The Genius Losers of Konoha
by Stigma
Summary: He's an untalented hyperactive boy and she's a timid, broken girl... or at least that's what they've led everyone to believe. But there are other secrets far deadlier than their own lurking beneath Konoha's streets. Strong Naruto, Strong Hinata- NaruHina
1. A stroke of genius!

Ahhhh... nice long starting chapter.

Alright, here's the rundown: just so you guys know, there** will** be character bashing in this fic. And I don't bash like a racist here, there's a formula. The bashing is directly proportional to the arrogance, undue pride, and general assholeness of the character. Great example: Sasuke looks like a total asswad here. Shikamaru does not. Easy, right?

Also, there will be plenty of swearing throughout this story. I'm saying this now so I don't have to say it again.

If you didn't gather from the summary, this fic's all about a super smart Naruto _and_ Hinata. Just so there's no confusion.

With that outta the way, enjoy!

General disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and never will. So sad...

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It was an ordinary day in the lively city of Konoha. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the kunai of the local Academy students shined in the bright sunlight; all in all, it was a pleasant afternoon. The weather had been good so far this year. Winter wasn't as cold as usual and summer came early, bringing with it warm air and cool breezes.

The bright blonde hair of a neon orange clad boy bounced with every step as he strode towards his rundown apartment. Even the glares of icy hatred penetrating the hyperactive child were quite normal on a day such as this. But Naruto Uzumaki paid no mind to the harsh gazes, not anymore. He walked with confidence in every step as he made his way to his home, ignoring the occasional taunt and the audible hushed whispers from behind his back. Upon reaching his ransacked dwelling, he let out a sigh of frustration. Being sure to lock the door, he laid on his bed, stretched, then slammed his pillow over his face and screamed into it.

"Goddamn Sasuke!!" his muffled voice decried the popular Academy student. "Thinks he's so fucking great just because he's an Uchiha!! Fucker pisses me off!!" He took several deep breaths through his comforter to calm down before removing it from his face. He needed to vocalize his frustration from time to time, and this method suited the bill just fine.

"_What the hell does everyone see in him?!_" he continued his rant mentally. "_So what if he 'looks so cool'?! That's not what being a ninja's about! And he's a show boater with no sense of teamwork! There's nothing professional about him! Hell, even Shikamaru's got more innate talent than he does, and he doesn't even lift a finger… literally!_" After his internal monologue, he sat up and composed himself. "Well," he thought out loud, "Time to get to work…"

He leapt off his bed and made his way to the farthest corner of his apartment. A long time ago, he discovered that the room below his didn't actually extend to this corner and instead, there was a mere concrete column that acted as a secondary support to that portion of the building. Placing his hands on the floor over the pillar and sending a bit of chakra into it, a panel that blended in perfectly with the messy ground dropped inward, revealing a somewhat spacious hole that he had dug and lined with steel bars in order to maintain the integrity of the building. After checking the automatic traps that reacted only to chakra other than his own, he smirked and climbed down the hole, setting the floor panel back into place above him.

He slid down the hollow aluminum ladder all the way down the structure, completely concealed by the pillar. As he descended, he made sure to check the seals lining the vertical tunnel to make sure they hadn't corroded. These seals he was particularly proud of; alongside the standard explosive tags that he lined inside the hole in case he ever needed to hide his location sat special markings that projected a powerful combination of ninjutsu and genjutsu. In a nutshell, these seals kept_anyone_ from detecting that the column was hollow.

Satisfied that his protective measures were stable, he reached the bottom of the ladder and proceeded through a trap-laden door to his private chamber about twenty feet below ground level. As proud as he was of his hole, this room made it look like a kid's summer project.

It wasn't particularly large, perhaps another twenty square feet more than his shitty apartment, but it was all in the spacing. With the exception of the bathroom and a few closets, it was a single square room lined with everything he needed; weapon lockers, bookcases lined with books and scrolls, and even a small forge alongside a scrap metal dump.

"Let's see," he muttered to no one while cracking his knuckles. "Where's it gonna be today?" He strode over to a set of mirrors and took a seat while pulling his gaudy jacket off. After that, he removed his shirt and observed his upper arms with an acknowledging nod. He then turned his back to the largest set of mirrors to see the seals he had tattooed so long ago behind his shoulders. Grasping the needle and saturating the tip with ink, he move his right arm forward and began applying another seal over his tricep, checking the mirrors to make sure he didn't make a mistake. Tattooing a flawless pattern in awkward positions on oneself with only the help of mirrors was difficult, but history had proven that he could do it.

Today's tattoos were storage seals, much like the large intricate body art over his shoulder blades. The large ink works on his back already stored dozens of weapons each. The blonde boy thought it appropriate to only seal large weapons in them such as swords, spears, windmill shuriken, and even a pair of scythes. He completed the seal on the back of his right upper arm and began another on the left. These were intended for smaller weapons such as kunai, shuriken, senbon needles, hell, maybe even a chain or two to mix things up a bit.

After finishing the second seal, he left the miniature station and walked over to his extensive weapon lockers. He opened one of the slim metal doors to reveal rows upon rows of throwing stars, knives, and needles, all neatly lined up to conserve space. He took several dozen of each weapon and systematically sealed them into his new tattoos. "_Now,_" he thought, "_To test them._"

He walked over to a closet, opened it up, and changed his clothes. Instead of the neon orange he wore to maintain his image as the village idiot, he now wore something far less conspicuous. His jacket had a simple camouflage pattern and his long deep red shorts hung loosely well below the knees. He exchanged his blue sandals for a modified pair of geta sandals with belts that firmly strapped the footwear to him and steel plates screwed into the bottoms. To complete the disguise, he donned the scratched mask of a treacherous ANBU who fell victim to one of his traps a few years back. Of course, he added his own touch to the visage, attaching a deep red mane to conceal his blonde hair and one-way mirrored lenses to hide his brilliant azure eyes from the world. He added one last safeguard to his identity in case his mask should falter and break; a red cloth that covered his face from the nose down. He had noticed a local ninja with the same getup, and it was amazing what a little extra clothing could do.

He secured his hidden chamber from the inside and pulled up a floorboard to reveal a grate. After going through the necessary precautions of his seals and traps, he dropped into the tunnel that was below his secret room. Strangely enough, this passage was already here when he constructed his second home all those years ago, but no one ever seemed to use them other than him and an unknown rival. It drove him nuts that there was something he didn't know, but that was why he was here.

When he first began to wander the mysterious tunnels, there was nary a soul other than him around. But shortly after his treks began, he ran into someone. That person was accompanied by two others who appeared human but looked off with their multiple scars, stitches, and mechanical enhancements. He didn't get a good look at the leader's face, but he soon learned in later encounters that it was a female of short stature. His term for the fellow opponent was 'Silence', due to the fact that she managed to sneak up on him more times than he'd care to admit. As they encountered each other more, their following skirmishes turned into fights, which quickly led to battles befitting of real ninjas. He knew that the next step was having battles of epic proportions that would create legends.

He vowed to himself that he would unearth the mystery of the opposing genius before becoming Hokage and charged into the darkness.

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A blue-haired girl walked through the clean halls of the mansion with drooping shoulders. To anyone watching, Hinata Hyuuga was the embodiment of depression. After all, who wouldn't be hopelessly grim if one's own family looked down on them for no justifiable reason?

She continued down the hall, avoiding anyone she encountered with careful precision until she exited the grounds. Once out of her oppressive home, she dejectedly made her way to one of the districts across Konoha until she reached her intended destination.

Producing a key, she opened the door to the abandoned storage room she secretly took over. Anyone who ever noticed her presence disregarded it, seeing as how her position as an esteemed clan member within the village caused people to respect her, even if only because of the title. After locking the door behind her, she uncovered a hidden steel door in the floor and descended the crude wooden stairs underneath. She shut the metal covering and placed her hand over the seal in its center, activating the ever-constant genjutsu that kept it hidden from all eyes, even those of the Byakugan and Sharingan. She strode down the suspended stairs over the dredged hallway and reached another heavy door, then peered into a small flashing red light while placing her thumb over a small nib next to the large handle. The nib pricked her finger to extract the smallest of blood samples and the light blinked twice rapidly in acknowledgement of its creator. The hydraulics that held the covering in place whined as they loosened and the Hyuuga girl entered the chamber.

"Good evening, mistress Hinata," two voices said simultaneously as their owners bowed.

"Good evening," she returned happily. "Shiori, Ichirou. Any new reports?"

"Ah," Shiori began with a glint of joy in her cold yet warm eyes, "I've collected the samples you asked for."

"Good, good," the Hyuuga said as she removed her oversized jacket and replaced it with an ivory lab coat. She honestly hated the hoodie, but she needed it to keep up the mask of a shy, introverted preteen. "Any news on 'Curse'?"

"Nothing yet, mistress," Ichirou answered, his ever-present twitch of the cheek accompanying him. "He's either been laying low or covering his tracks better."

"It's probably the latter," she remarked. "That bastard's always getting smarter with each encounter." She pulled out a slide of a biological sample from an old freezing container and placed it under a microscope. "Just make sure your brains aren't damaged."

"What about the rest of us?" her female attendant asked with way too much enthusiasm.

"Doesn't matter so much. I can always put you back together again." She adjusted the device before her then turned to her idle helpers. "Anything new on the monitors?"

"Well, no…"

"You know the drill," she scolded lightly. Her subordinates were… special… and as such needed continuous direction for their duties. "Continue to map out the tunnels. If anyone other than Curse finds you, avoid detection at all costs. I won't be able to help you if you're taken in."

"What if we encounter Curse?" Ichirou questioned.

"Do what you always do, try to buy time until I can get there. Now get going," she ordered with benevolent command. When the attendants left through the secured opening they opened a few years back, Hinata sighed, happy that the duo's conditions were steadily improving, even if they could never be fully normal again.

At an extremely young age, the Hyuuga found she had a propensity for two things in particular: the medical field and the acquisition of information. She immensely enjoyed the study of all things relating to the physical body and went out of her way to gather knowledge about anything simply because it made her giddy with joy. But when her father threatened her core interests by pushing the clan's traditional ways on her, she rebelled in the best of ways; secretly.

She didn't flat out refuse the training he gave her, but rather chose not to excel in front of him, knowing that her succession as the family head would severely handicap her opportunities in life. Interestingly enough, she found the lessons of the Gentle Fist and its various techniques quite simple, and she took extra measures to ensure that she truly learned the moves in her spare time away from prying eyes. At the same time she understood that merely seeming to not properly grasp the techniques was not enough to ensure her denial of her future clan position, so she donned the constant illusion of a shy, unconfident, introverted girl. It wasn't a simple task by far, if only because she wanted to clock almost everyone she knew due to their incredible stupidity and short-sightedness. She couldn't stand most of the kids at the Academy; they were all just so frickin' _dumb_! Especially all those girls who fawned over the Uchiha because he was self-centered douchebag. The only people she even remotely respected were Naruto Uzumaki and Iruka Umino. Naruto, because he honestly tried his best even if he was an idiot and Iruka because he wasn't a jackass to the poor boy like everyone else.

When she first discovered the abandoned storage room and built her hidden chamber, she began conducting her own research. Most of her studies involved things like biology, genetics, and advanced machinery, but she stumbled across another pastime which transformed her life for the better: espionage.

She kept her spying strictly within safe boundaries in case her devices were ever traced back to her, something which in and of itself was highly unlikely. If such a thing were to happen, she would, at worst, be fined severely and potentially watched haphazardly for the remainder of her days, or at least until she could avoid detection altogether.

During her early days of monitoring things of interest, one of her favorite locations was the Konoha hospital, second only to the inner workings of the Hokage tower. One of her watched 'patients' was a branch family member, a man with the caged bird seal. While she felt sorry for the poor soul because his life was decided by others, she took great interest in his case. The man was desperately ill and always on the verge of slipping into a coma. One day, it actually happened, and before the nurses could respond to the alarm set off by the lack of brain waves, he passed away.

That was the day the young girl made a fascinating discovery of the oppressive seal. She had read from her family's archives that the mark only disappeared in death, taking with it the abilities of the Byakugan. When the man slipped into brain death, the seal faded away, but what was remarkable was that his body lived on for a short while before complications snuffed out its flame. The branch member was still alive by all biological standards.

With this in mind, Hinata launched herself into a series of experiments to remove the seal from several ailing branch members. She was amazed and disgusted by how many of the subservient family were in dire need of treatment yet kept under wraps by the main house. She conducted her trial runs in secret, most of which were failures. As time went on, she learned more and more about what needed to be done and, eventually, succeeded.

Her landmark discovery resulted in the 'birth' of Shiori, the first branch member to be rid of her cursed mark. Of course, in order to make such a thing possible, the blue-haired girl had to partially lobotomize her creation and replace many of the organs and body parts with other compatible materials, including several mechanical devices. Spurred on by her achievement, she produced Ichirou shortly afterwards.

While having the revitalized Hyuugas under her care and watchful eyes, she had them work with her on her many projects. Of course, they could only handle simple tasks, but it was more than welcome because it allowed the studious girl to concentrate on what she wanted.

But as of a few years ago, a certain rivalry developed between her and another mysterious individual. It first began when she burrowed into the tunnels already under Konoha and encountered the person she came to coin 'Curse'. Thankfully, the person didn't have a clear view of her face at the time, so her secret was safe for now. Nowadays, she lived for two things; becoming the most powerful shinobi in the village by her own power and proving herself the superior genius.

Her eyes shot open when the speaker crackled to life and Shiori's voice broke through. "Mistress, we have encountered Curse," she stated calmly. "Proceeding to engage target and await your arrival."

Hinata rushed over to the sea of monitors against the far wall and spotted the one corresponding to the camera behind Ichirou's left eye to confirm the engagement. Sure enough, those clothes and mask gave it away. "Alright," she said to herself to get pumped up for the upcoming fight. She shed the lab coat and donned the dark blue jacket she wore in combat with all its attached electrical and mechanical parts. Donning a mask of the same color and a beige cloth to cover her short hair, she opened the door to the adjacent tunnels and dashed through while it automatically closed behind her.

The hunt was on and she was looking for a good fight.

----------------------------

Naruto was in the middle of heavy combat with the 'freaks', his term for the two unusual combatants he repeatedly encountered. It didn't seem to matter how many times he poisoned, stabbed, disemboweled, dismembered, or beheaded them; they always appeared again in the next battle.

Fortune was on his side this evening; he managed to sneak up on the two reassembled Hyuugas this time and take out the male after a few minutes with a windmill shuriken covered in explosive tags. The female, however, was a different story.

She was obviously constructed for close quarters, although a few of her built in features consisted of long-range weapons. She bent her legs against the opposite wall and lunged forward, shooting her left mechanical arm forward and opening the electrified claws at the fingertips.

Curse countered with a wooden staff he removed from one of his large seals. The claws almost immediately splintered the thing, but it threw her aim off enough for the blonde genius to slash her artificial limb off with a broad sword. Her skills were obviously waning; normally she wouldn't loose that arm until much later.

He backed off a few steps and chucked the sharpened remainder of his stick at her, using the distraction to pull a second broadsword from one of his shoulder blade seals. He then raised one leg closely against his body and moved his long, curved blades in front of him in a loose gesture.

The female freak knelt on the ground with her right knee up. Her pants tore as a compartment opened and a steel tube filled with senbon needles shot forward and blasted out the poisoned projectiles. The blonde immediately hit the ground on his back and spun himself out of the way with his feet, swinging and striking with his duel blades to deflect any stray needle. He recovered from the spin flawlessly and, using his momentum, sliced the woman's leg off from below the knee. She faltered when her support gave out, but before she could hit the ground the other broad sword cleanly removed her head right above the stitches at the base of her neck. As the consistently-revived body slumped to the tunnel floor, the blonde genius felt another presence rapidly approaching.

He spun on his heal and struck two stakes out of the air before they plunged into him, denting his wonderfully light swords. "So," he addressed his intelligent rival, "Resorting to this old trick again?"

"Don't make me laugh," she replied, moving her index fingers down and loading another set of iron spikes into the launchers on her arms. "Those damn blades of yours go hand in hand with this!" She moved her hands down, pulling the wires and releasing the catch on her heavy projectile launcher. The metal stakes flew and, as their target moved his dented swords in position, suddenly flew apart into a hail of slivered shrapnel.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he couldn't dodge in time and took a few large angular chunks to the chest. "_Ugh, I hate using this_," he complained inwardly as he tapped into the demon fox's chakra and shot the imbedded pieces back at his prodigy opponent. He had learned long ago about the source of the hating glares he received, realizing that the dark voice in the back of his head was not a normal thing.

Hinata yelped as the shards flew back at her and she squatted to the ground. She grasped two circular devices on the front of her jacket and pushed the side buttons in, locking them temporarily into place. The large disk on her back, affectionately referred to as 'Yin and Yang' by her, spun against its small support rails and released a burst of electricity, repelling any metal approximately three feet away from the machine. The disfigured shrapnel spun harmlessly back into the air and clattered to the ground.

The Uzumaki used this time to move in and, twisting to the side in midair, brought his damaged blades down onto the Hyuuga's metal stake launchers, denting them beyond use for the moment. She retaliated by fingering the loose wires at her wrists, yanking them free in such a way that his blades fell into them, and twisting them around the curved weapons, trapping them in place. She moved her pinky fingers and touched the sensitive electrode draped under her hand and a jolt of electricity surged through the wires and, by association, her opponent's metal swords.

He released the energized weapons and leapt back, the steel bottoms of his geta sandals clanging against the stone floor. He went into a horse stance and released his favorite sword, his custom ninjato. The straight blade had been lengthened to five feet and the blue-haired prodigy noticed several new seals lining both sides. "I've been working on this baby ever since you wrecked it," Curse stated with pride. "Show me what you got!"

She grinned beneath her blue mask at his eagerness. "You're not the only one with some new toys," she replied as she pulled the pins out of the supports that held Yin and Yang to her back and the device fell to the ground. She pulled the circular machines on her chest off and pressed the center buttons in. The large disk on the ground began to spin and sharp barbs a foot long shot out of its hollowed center. She applied chakra to electrodes hidden within the machines in her hands and the top of death began spinning like mad towards the blonde.

He moved the sword to the ground to sweep Yin and Yang away and it suddenly sprung up into his face. "Shit!" he cursed as he jabbed the blade upwards and caught the large top between two barbs, halting its midair attack. He tried to throw it to the side, but burning steam shot out at his face and propelled the device away. The heat would have been enough to score his face had it not been for the mask. "Damn, that's cool!" he exclaimed as he moved against the bladed disk. "But I've got something new here!" He jabbed the ninjato into the ground and the seals along the side began to glow. He pulled the blade up in a vertical swinging motion and a chord of rough stone stuck to the tip and whiplashed all the way down the hall to the Hyuuga genius.

"Holy hell!" she shouted as she recalled Yin and Yang and manipulated it to throw itself against the rock. She succeeded, but the whip knocked it to the side and kept on coming. She barely dodged the initial wave in the narrow tunnel, but her intelligent opponent began swinging his sword skillfully in the air, causing the impromptu chord to smash her against the wall and break half the machines in her possession. A small trickle of blood flowed from her mouth, but it was nothing serious. She tried to get up but was held down by the cold steel of her rival's geta sandal while staring up against his extended sword.

He smiled behind his modified mask. "Looks like I won today. You're outta stuff, aintchya?"

"She glared back at him from behind her azure visage. "I've still got equipment left…"

"Nothing I haven't seen before. Make something better and take me on then," he said as he moved his free hand down to remove her mask. "Now to find out… Agh!" he retracted his hand and jumped back reflexively at the jolt of electricity that resided in a metal rim that was painted the same color of her disguise. "_Dammit, didn't see that!_" he thought before addressing his defeated opponent again. "That was good, but you don't have any other options. I still won today."

She coughed in response as she brought herself to her feet.

He continued his mirrored gaze at her while resealing his favored blade behind his shoulder. "It's frustrating to have someone I don't know about down here, but that makes things far more interesting. It's such a pain living with so many dumbasses."

Panting hard with the wind knocked out of her, she couldn't help but agree.

"You're the only person I can count on to keep me on my toes, Silence," he said before taking off into the darkness.

Hinata stood there for a moment. "Same for you, Curse," she returned before collecting her creations' parts. After gathering up most of the pieces, she realized that Shiori's mechanical arm was missing. "You son of a bitch!" she yelled with a touch of sarcasm to the empty tunnel, knowing full well that he would have it figured out by the next time they met.

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Those who are used to my neurotic updates, be warned: I will focus on my other story until it's done and treat this one as secondary. There will not be nearly as many updates, but the chapters should be nice and looooong (by my standards).

Those of you who are new and want more, go check out my other fics! They need lovin' too...

Oh, yeah. **Please leave a review!!!** Doing so will help me gauge whether or not I should spend my time writing this, so, if you really wanna see more of this unusual rivalry, let me know!! Otherwise, I'll leave it to die (and I've done it before).

Catchya 'round!


	2. Headin down the hard way

I'm headin' out for the weekend, so here's a little somethin to tide ya'll over for the next few days.

Usual disclaimer rules apply as well as the swearing warnings.

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The next morning, Naruto was beaming as he usually did, except this time he was doing it in the privacy of his own home. He had beaten Silence the night before, and he was ecstatic. He didn't even have to use the full repertoire of his abilities, but then again she didn't delve into her collection of techniques either. He looked over at his alarm clock and realized he needed to get to the Academy.

As he walked down the street with his head held high and ignoring the whispers behind his back, he couldn't help but add a real smile to the mix of his outward mask. When he reached sight of the building, he remembered that the graduation exams were coming up again. Those were always a pain, but he figured that maybe he should try to pass this time. During the previous exams, he was too busy doing research and perfecting his weaponry styles to give much thought to the useless techniques used in the sub-genin test. "_I mean, who the hell uses the Clone Technique? Those things are freakin' useless!_" he ranted inwardly, equally frustrated that he couldn't actually pull off the worthless move. "_It really hurts trying to compress all my chakra down to just a simple nonexistent clone. Maybe one of those Shadow Clones I've read about…_" he continued his mental discussion as he entered the classroom.

He slumped down into the first seat available and scanned the classroom with azure eyes. Almost everyone here was horrifically incompetent! The only people who had any real potential, other than himself of course, were Shikamaru, Shino, and Hinata.

He could tell the lazy boy was particularly smart; after all, the blonde_was_ the master of disguises. Now if only the Nara would lift a finger to do any actual work…

The Aburame was a bit of a mystery, even to him. He knew all about his clan's insect techniques and how they housed bugs inside their members and even most of the inherent strengths and weaknesses guarded closely by the family. It was their attitude that was the hardest of all to crack; they were incredibly secretive in their reactions to everything. Naruto figured his bug-using classmate for someone who had above average intelligence and genuinely cared about his associates. All in all, good shinobi material.

The Hyuuga girl was the only female in his class worthy of being called a ninja. Despite her shy nature, she was reasonably intelligent and her techniques, while sloppy in the opinion of her asshole family, were far more useful and versatile than any of the wannabe kunoichis. He wondered if her introverted tendencies would get in the way of missions or teamwork, but he had a feeling she could be serious if she tried. Besides, it made her kinda cute…

He turned his head to notice the pink-haired girl he 'liked'. In truth, he despised Sakura as much as he did Ino; both were incredibly vain and wanted nothing more than to impress Sasuke. He figured that his idiot visage would go for her, but c'mon, who would want a girl as flat as a board with enough room on her forehead to sell ad space? Her personality sucked as well, but that was nothing unusual for the females in the room. "_It's allllll for Sasuke,_" he thought with a mental sneer when his teacher entered the room.

"Alright, settle down guys," Iruka began as he checked off the role in his hands. "Hey, sit down!" he commanded to a handful of kids in the back who were especially rowdy that day. When he finished the roster, he addressed the class on the genin exams coming up the next week.

Iruka. Now this guy Naruto liked, even if he was a little dim at times. The scarred chunin didn't treat him like dirt like everyone else and that was enough to earn the blonde's reserved respect. The only people he held in high regard other than his caring teacher were the grandfatherly-like Hokage, old man Teuchi and his daughter at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, and, or course, the prodigy rival he knew as Silence. If someone ignored the demon contained within him or treated him like they did everyone else without bias, their name went on the short list of people he liked.

As the Uzumaki thought about the mechanical arm he confiscated the previous night, the Hyuuga watched him from her heightened seat. The blue-haired girl stared at the back of his head, carefully keeping an eye out so she could duck down in feigned embarrassment if anyone noticed her. She knew that, given the lack of self-confidence and self-respect her mask projected, she would be fundamentally attracted to the hyperactive, ever-positive boy. In truth, she actually did kinda like the blonde; he was honest and hardworking even if he was incurably stupid, but there really wasn't a chance that someone like him could get very far in life. It was another sad case of being held back by one's peers that she had seen so many times in the branch family. She allowed her gaze to shift across the room until it rested on a shameful sight; the Uchiha and his fan club.

The girls in her class gave kunoichis a bad name by fawning over this piece of arrogant crap. He was a brooding asswipe who didn't care about anyone, looked down on everyone, and touted his own pathetic skills as superior in a sad attempt to find self-worth. The squealing fangirls crowding around him were no better. "_What are they, three?_" she thought with disdain. "_If you want to be a ninja, be a damn ninja! Don't prostrate yourselves over this fire-breathing turd!_" As she vented her own internal fury, she forced herself to think about more pleasant things. She actually felt a bit depressed when she realized yet again that there were very few things to be joyous about other than her private work. She couldn't shake the depressing weight of being alone in a world of stupidity. There wasn't anyone she could talk to! Well, there was Shiori and Ichirou, but they were incapable of holding conversations on the level she desired, much less any kind of advanced thought at the moment. She hadn't completely restored them from last night's engagement.

As her mind wandered to how she would defeat Curse next time, she found her mood lifting._This_ is what she lived for; the thrill of competing with someone who wouldn't falter anytime soon! Someone who could potentially understand her plight! Of course, she would prove herself the superior prodigy, but that would come with time. She was shaken out of her thoughts when Iruka shouted at a misbehaving Naruto. Remembering that her mask would giggle at the blonde's outbreak, she unconsciously let it escape as a true feeling. Sure, the boy was an idiot, but that was enough for now…

"Alright guys," the chunin announced, "On the agenda today is practical applications. That means shuriken and taijutsu practice. Outside!" he called, prompting the students to slowly abandon their desks and make their way to the doors.

The Uzumaki stayed still in his seat while sprawled out over the table before him. He was feigning a pout since his esteemed teacher yelled at him over a hilarious dirty joke he repeated from a jonin he once saw. When the blue-haired Hyuuga passed him, he glanced up at her and noted the immediate blush and attempt to hide in her jacket. He chuckled inwardly; it was plain as day that she had a crush on him and, under normal circumstances, he might have considered returning the affection. But there was work to be done, and he knew it. No time for romance.

Iruka noticed the shy girl awkwardly avoiding his blonde student and smirked. "_Ah, to be young again…_" he thought, totally falling for their masks. The boy leapt to his feet and rushed out the door behind everyone and the scarred chunin followed.

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Naruto sat in his hidden chamber working on the stolen mechanical arm that afternoon. "_This thing's incredible!_" he thought. "_Nothing short of what Silence can do!_"

The false limb was a cavalcade of technology. The interior of the smooth metal was littered with electric wiring, equipment, and weaponry. He managed to extract a saw blade of barbs similar to the deadly top she pulled during the last encounter along with the electrified claws in the fingers. Poisoned senbon needles were tucked away in tiny magnetically charged holes hidden by a removable plate and the batteries he gutted from the upper arm were housed in an incredibly dense allow that took way too much time to open. Even the way the arm was supposed to be attached to the flesh was brilliant; the transistors and sensors at the shoulder were meticulously laid out to connect directly to the nerves and muscle tissue of the user to give the metal appendage a feeling as natural as an actual arm.

Other than the joy he derived from dismantling the device, there really wasn't anything he could copy into his own arsenal. Having a third limb would be painful as hell, seeing as how he'd have to constantly damage his body so the connected nerves wouldn't heal instantly. The space conserving compartments gave him no ideas since the early part of is life dealt with that very issue. The concept of hidden weapons was also old hat; he once spent the better part of four months researching everything he could about the fundamentals of puppetry in battle. While he walked away with extensive knowledge of poisons, chakra strings, and weapons hidden in every corner, the art was ultimately flawed in his eyes. The user would have to carry around a bigass puppet or a bulky scroll and leave himself open to attack while focusing on a somewhat distant battle. Sure, he still had the lethal dolls he constructed during those times, but he mainly used them for an automated defense system while he was away.

He leaned back on the comfortable cot and reviewed the battle in his head. "_That spinning top of death was pretty cool,_" he stated mentally. "_It let out electricity and reacted wirelessly to… those…_" his train of thought trailed off when he suddenly rushed to one of his lockers and began frantically pulling out various weapons. Silence's new weapon gave him an idea.

"_A child's toy is it?_" he mused while setting out the various blades, screws, tags, and miscellaneous items before him. As he began formulating the inner workings in his mind, he silently challenged his rival. "_Two can play at that game!_"

He spent the rest of the evening constructing his new weaponry and cheered upon completion. The blonde genius ascended the hidden passage into his ratty apartment and produced a foxy grin before nodding off in his bed.

He couldn't _wait_ for the next fight!

----------------------------

Hinata sat in the smaller secondary lab underneath her room in the Hyuuga compound. This dank hole wasn't nearly as elegant as her main chamber, but putting all of one's eggs in one basket was incredibly foolish. She had spent the better part of the afternoon restoring Shiori and Ichirou to their previous status and now she was working on altering their mechanical equipment.

After finishing all the small changes that came to mind, she sat back and wondered what to do about Curse. The guy really seemed to know his seals, and that was something she had, sadly, not paid so much attention to. She fished out one of the old scrolls she had copied from an old Hyuuga text in the clan archives from the hole in the uneven stone wall and began reading through it on any information that was specific to her bloodline.

There wasn't much, but it gave her an idea. She pulled out several tags from the haphazard stack before her and began scribbling out variations on the Caged Bird seal mixed with elements of other marks that she knew off the top of her head. After a few failed attempts, she came up with a crude yet functional tag.

It still contained the central part of the brain destroying mark, but the outlying area was a combination of an explosive seal and a barrier mark. Theoretically, this seal, when applied to a subject via the tag, would cause extreme pain to the wearer regardless of family affiliation. The small barrier prevented easy removal, although the corners were still unprotect, and if contact was broken after activation, it was set to explode in a small, yet still harmful, fireball. She smirked when she realized that her family's horrendous seal could be put to a professional use other than holding others back.

She became alert when the nearby monitor detected her father coming down the hall. She scrambled to the surface and properly set the mat down, thus securing her hidden lab from prying eyes.

Her father gave another lecture on proper behavior, strength of the Hyuuga, blah, blah, blah. She stopped paying attention as soon as he began and let her mind wander to what else she could create to defeat her prodigy rival. As Hiashi neared the end of his ignored lecture, she came up with an idea and, once he was far enough away from her room, returned to her crude underground room to begin preparations.

As the night went on, she successfully completed a prototype of an experimental weapon she had been working on the past few years. It wasn't particularly strong now, but given enough time it would become a formidable force, one that would turn the shinobi world upside down if it ever got out.

She returned to her room above and fell asleep with a smile on her small face. The next encounter was gonna be _great_!

* * *

Happy Valentines, yo. 


	3. Good ole Workin Class Ass Kickin!

Hm... not quite as long as I'd like it, but I felt that the end of this chapter provided a good stopping point. Anyways, enjoy.

I don't own Naruto. So sad...

* * *

Four days later, Naruto found himself prowling around in the mysterious hive underneath Konoha again. As usual, he was slowly mapping out the extensive tunnel system while secretly hoping to be 'interrupted' by Silence. He was dressed in his usual alternative garb with a new addition; a handful of rings on his fingers. Every digit possessed one of the circular ornaments and tiny storage seals were carved all the way around the thick combat jewelry. Ever since his latest victory against his intelligent rival he had built a wide array of new weaponry based on her top of death, and he was looking forward to testing them.

But as much as he craved an encounter with his nemesis, he was just as interested in why these manmade caverns were here. He had never heard any mention of them even from the Hokage, and all the official and unofficial documents regarding the various shinobi locations produced zip in the way of an explanation. "_Someone's doing something down here,_" he concluded, "_They've gotta be. Now the real question is, who…?_"

He shook his head to clear his wandering mind as he came upon a massive circular vertical tunnel. When he stepped into the clearing he peered up and saw a web of stone bridges extending from other tunnels high overhead. He glanced over the side of his own granite precipice and saw much the same, albeit in the other direction. He backed into the tunnel he exited while pulling out his map. Observing the rough path he took, he estimated that he was somewhere below the Hokage monuments. "_Right under the Hokage's nose,_" he thought smugly, "_And even the old man doesn't know! This'll be fun…_" He marked his map appropriately and pocketed the guide before heading back into the descending hole.

------------------------

Hinata decided that today was a day for exploration. She had successfully rebuilt Shiori and Ichirou and left the reassembled Hyuuga's to their daily tasks of monitoring all her points of interest and filtering out useless or meaningless materials. They might not have been alive in the traditional sense, but they were still incredibly helpful.

As she moved through the tunnels, a green LED light thrummed softly on her hip as her electronic guidance system updated itself by calculating her newest route. The nifty little device continuously scanned the surrounding area and fed the data wirelessly to the powerful mapping machine back in her main lab. Her dark blue jacket was warm from all the miniature and not-so-miniature devices strapped on or otherwise built into the tough fabric and her repaired metal stake launchers gleamed in the dim light. The newest addition to her arsenal was carefully strapped to her left thigh in a slim composite steel holster. The weapon was still underdeveloped in her opinion, as the interior of the machine was ridiculously fragile underneath its custom metal tubing; the simple act of dropping it on the ground could potentially render it useless.

She stopped when she reached a break in the dank tunnel that opened into a huge subterranean chamber. The guidance system's small light flashed furiously as its microwaves suddenly had to bounce back from all over the place in the spacious pit. Once it settled down, the Hyuuga girl nudged a switch from inside her mask with her nose and a rough outline of the new location was projected in front of her left eye. She frowned when she noticed that there was an airborne fixture in the map that continuously moved every time the portable device updated. She shut off the projection and peered over the side of her heightened angle and smirked when she saw what was causing the abnormality.

She quietly loaded the spike launchers on her arms and took aim at her seemingly oblivious adversary. She wasn't even that surprised when Curse suddenly glanced up and leapt into the air, seeing as how he was a fellow genius who was aware of his surroundings. She fired the exploding metal rods simultaneously and immediately reloaded the second round while reaching for her newest weapon. This was an excellent day indeed…

Naruto dodged the shrapnel spikes with relative ease on his airborne route towards Silence. When she fired another barrage, he jammed his fingers into a passing bridge and swung himself underneath, using the open walkway as a shield against the splintering metal. When the deadly rain passed he curled his feet around, placed them on top of the bridge, then flung himself towards his nemesis while drawing his twin broadswords from the seals on his back.

Hinata smirked behind her blue mask and immediately pulled the pins to Yin and Yang, unleashing the electrified bladed top against Curse. She inserted chakra into the wireless controls and manipulated the lethal top with deadly precision against the fellow prodigy when he finally brought himself to her bridge.

The blonde boy struck the spinning weapon between the curved blades with both swords, initiating the constant current within the top of death. His muscles locked up due to the sudden rush of electricity through his body and, after a few precious seconds of being stuck, willed his arms to fling the device away. The thing hit the ground and a small set of pins on the side suddenly shot out, launching the spinning machine into the air towards Curse.

"Shit!" he swore as he leapt back to avoid being skewered by the weaponized toy. When the top spun past him and began turning to attack from behind, he touched the large seal on the left side of his back and pulled out a long, thick mahogany staff. When the crackling machine neared him again, he thrust the pole out and the curved blades of Yin and Yang jammed solidly into the wood, effectively halting the remote weapon's advance.

Naruto turned to mock his adversary on the failed attempt but instead faced another hail of shrapnel rods. He cursed incessantly as the long bolts exploded on his sides and showered him with painful steel slivers. Calling upon the fox's chakra, he managed to forcefully eject the metal pieces as his many wounds smoked shut.

"The hell did you do that for?!" he shouted at Silence.

"What?!" she replied playfully. "You look fine to me!"

"Damn you!" With that, he raised his hands and applied chakra to the rings on his fingers. The seals on the smooth metal reacted instantly and ejected multiple weapons that appeared to be miniature versions of Yin and Yang. "That little top of yours gave me and idea!"

"And that would be…?!"

He smirked behind his modified mask. "Yo-yos of death!" He demonstrated by launching the toy like weapons at Hinata. Small blades curved out of the edges of the lethal playthings as the blonde sent chakra down the wires that connected the devices to his rings.

Silence countered without a second thought by loading another set of shrapnel rods and firing them at the incoming buzz-saws. As the flying metal impacted with the opposing weapons, Curse performed a dance with his arms to manipulate the yo-yos back to their original path. The Hyuuga, in turn, reactivated the distant Yin and Yang and forced its miniature steam engines to pry it loose from the heavy staff. As soon as the blades left the wood the thing spun along the ground with incredible speed until it tangled itself in the copycat weapons' wires.

"_Damn!_" Naruto thought as he pulled back on his new armaments, frustrated that his rival already found a flaw with them. An idea struck him and he began to swing his arms in a circular pattern in front of him. The tangled yo-yos of death reacted to the motion by spinning the same way as the motion transferred down the wires. Within seconds, the tangled metal strands had combined to form one thick cable topped with a chaotic collection of rotating blades. The blonde genius then initiated his next attack by leaping forward, causing the impromptu mess of weapons in front of him to also advance with frightening speed.

But Silence was ready for anything. While her nemesis was busy further tangling her top of death within his makeshift cable, he had forgotten one important aspect of Yin and Yang. As the spinning steel cable of rotating blades neared her, Hinata squatted to the ground and pushed the outer buttons in on her wireless devices. Her remote weapon received the command and its inner generator began to spin. A moment later its magnetic field turned on and unraveled the wiring tangled around it. Since this function was primarily meant to ward off any unwanted metal around the wearer, its oppressive field extended for a certain distance before affecting anything. To put it simply, the cables entangling Yin and Yang were ripped apart as the metal nearest the device were left unharmed while the magnetic field forced away the strands within its influence.

"Oh shit!" Curse exclaimed as his cable was dispersed and snapped into pieces. He cut off the chakra to his rings and the wires extending from the seals fell away as the marks deactivated. In a sudden fit of anxiety, the blonde released his favored ninjato from one of the seals in his back. He took a deep stance, his geta sandals' metal bottoms clanging against the stone floor as he did so. Striking his sword into the earth, the seals along the blade's sides began to glow as the earth below was firmly connected to the cold steel of the weapon.

The Hyuuga instantly recalled the last time he pulled this move. "_Well,_" she thought, "_Let's see if this thing's up to snuff._" She reached down to her thigh, pulled her experimental weapon from its metal holster, and aimed the slightly curved rod at her rival. She pressed its lone switch with her thumb and the device began to vibrate as its inner workings spun at an increasing pace. When the air around the slanted tube began to heat to unbearable levels, the device reached its maximum output and a brilliant light shone through the opening at the front. A moment later, the machine discharged and sent the intense burning light flying towards the blonde.

The demon container genius didn't even have time to think when he saw the flash approach him. Instinctively, he dipped into a rather large amount of the fox's chakra and a visible barrier of evil chakra immediately pooled in front of him. The instant afterward, the superheated light impacted the makeshift shield and the two amazing forces caused a tremendous shockwave as they imploded in a fantastic display of illuminated heat.

Hinata was thrown back a good ten yards by the blast and, when she composed herself, noticed her nemesis also suffered the same fate, as he was now bringing himself to his feet clear on the other side of the devastated bridge. "What was _that_?" she whispered under her breath.

"You idiot!!" Naruto berated her once his dry voice returned. "You almost killed me!!"

"So did you!!"

"I can't believe you made me use _that_!!" he referred to the fox's chakra even though he knew Silence wouldn't understand the correlation.

"Me?! What about you!! I'll bet every high-level ninja within a hundred miles felt that!!" If only she knew how accurate that prediction was…

"Who's there?!" a voice called down from above them, instantly attracting their attention.

The intelligent preteens shifted their alert gazes to the lone ninja at the top of the vertical tunnel with a mixture of shock and horror before glancing back at each other. As soon as they realized they had been exposed to the world, they made a mad dash for whatever salvageable weapons were laying around and scampered away like their lives depended on it.

------------------------

"Commander Takaimi!" a masked underling appeared before a shadowed figure who was seated on an uncomfortable granite throne. "Our forward scout detected a large chakra spike near sector eight!"

"Tell me something I don't know," the figure replied in a bored, decidedly female voice. "Any news on the cause?"

"Yes, ma'am! Our scout claimed to have seen two masked individuals fighting in the area. Upon discovery, the unknown fighters vacated the scene."

"Interesting…" Takaimi leaned forward to reveal a sly smirk adorning her rough lips. "Let's get to know these folks a little better. Alert all squadrons to keep a lookout for them."

"Yes, ma'am!" With that, the kneeling ninja shimmered out of view.

The gruff-sounding woman sat back in her seat. "This is certainly interesting news… I'm sure he'll be as intrigued as I am."

------------------------

An elder man strolled down one of the many halls in the Hokage Tower on his way to one of the numerous conference rooms littering the upper floors. His right side was covered either by bandages or miscellaneous cloth, evidence of a conflict fought long ago, as his features were rough and wrinkled with age. Upon reaching the desired chamber he opened the door and took his place across from two other individuals in the secured room.

"Glad you could join us, Danzo," the elder man greeted.

"Good afternoon Homura, Koharu," the old war hawk replied.

"We assume you are here to discuss the events that transpired in ROOT's former base of operation?" Koharu began.

"Yes. I take it that you also felt that… presence?"

The old teammates nodded.

"Several of my subordinates are currently investigating the source, but I believe it's safe to say that whatever it is, it could be disastrous if left unchecked."

Homura spoke up. "I agree completely, but how do you suggest we go about procuring such a power?"

"First we need to locate it. It is only a matter of time until we do so; such strength can never hide for long."

"And what happens after?" the old woman continued. "If we are unable to control it, how shall we dispose of it?"

Danzo remained silent for a moment before answering. "I believe our… associate… is more than capable of handling it."

The elders nodded again in agreement. "Now that that's out of the way," Homura began, "There are other matters to discuss…"

* * *

What will happen next? Find out in the next episode of 'The Genius Losers of Konoha'!!

Tired and hungry now. Food then sleep. Sounds like a plan... 'course, I might stay up and start on the next chapter...


	4. Mega Kung Fu Radiooooo!

Hoo boy... long chapter. Mostly filler and setup in my opinion, but now the way's mostly paved for some wall-to-wall action and mystery. Enjoy.

I don't own Naruto and never will. So sad, cuz let's face it, I could revitalize it...

* * *

Naruto was as anxious as could be the next day. He hadn't felt such a rush since his first encounter with Silence. Who knew being caught would be so… exhilarating? His restlessness manifested itself in a constant bouncing of his right leg against the squeaking floorboards under his seat at the Academy.

"_I knew someone was down there!_" he exclaimed mentally as he reviewed the odd chain of events the previous night. "_Now the question is who could it be? That guy we saw didn't have any obvious headband… an operative, maybe? Perhaps a spy? Nah, a spy would wear a mask or something; this guy made no real attempts to blend in. If he's an outsider, what's his occupation? Then again, if he's from Konoha, what was he doing down there? Gah… all this speculation's giving me a headache…_"

Higher up in the stands, Hinata's thoughts possessed similar content. "_Now THAT was an adrenaline rush,_" she speculated on being discovered, "_I wonder if that's what couple's feel when their 'caught in the act'?_" She giggled at the unusual comparison before recalling the face of the individual who found them. "_Let's see… he didn't have a village headband, but then he wasn't wearing an ANBU mask either. That means the tunnels really are a secret from most of Konoha since he felt no need to hide his identity… but if he was ANBU that might have been his base of operations._" She shook her head at the last thought; she had located the special force's main structure some months ago and, while it also had an extensive tunnel system, it wasn't connected to the mysterious hive she and Curse had been exploring. "_Wait a minute!_" she realized, "_The ANBU black-ops are an offshoot of another organization, uh… what was it… ROOT? Yeah, that's it. But it was disbanded some time ago… wasn't it?_" She shook herself from her inner monologue when she noticed Iruka, yet again, berating the blonde boy. Per usual, she giggled a bit at the boy she was supposed to have a crush on and began to wonder if there would ever be anyone for her…

Her utmost respect laid with Curse even if he was her rival in the prodigy department, but what would happen if the guy was much older than her and only appeared younger due to his short stature? Such a thing shouldn't matter, but the Hyuuga couldn't bring herself to contemplate such thoughts; after all, she was still a girl.

As Hinata stewed in silence over her depressing future prospects, the blonde genius sat back in his seat and mentally planned out his day. After classes he would have to spend several hours pretending to practice with shuriken and such; he still had an image of the village idiot to uphold. Afterwards, a trip to Ichiraku's ramen stand would be in order, seeing as how their noodles were freakin' great and the old man's daughter was kinda cute, even if she was 'too old' for him…

This last musing caught him unawares on a subject he skirted around quite often. He would tell himself that he was still twelve years old; romance in his life was still a long ways off, but the simple idea that he would eventually want to settle down one day bothered him. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the notion of having a family that disturbed him rather than who he would be having it with. His ideal girl was, first and foremost, at least intelligent enough to hold a decent conversation with him. Strangely enough, he considered looks to be secondary as long as she wasn't a complete circus freak. After a few solid minutes of daydreaming he banished such thoughts from his overactive imagination and continued his plans on what to do about the now inhabited secret tunnel system.

------------------------

As the blonde 'failure' drilled ninja stars into wooden targets, Hinata performed her ritualistic stalking of the boy. Occasionally, if the location was rather populous, the Hyuuga would decide to exercise her skills in stealth and easily sneak by large crowds of people undetected. Today, however, was not one of those days. She made no obvious effort to stay hidden from her 'crush' should he ever decide to turn around.

As usual, Naruto felt her presence behind him anyway. He thought it sad that her life was so oppressive that she secretly leaned on his visage of a moron for emotional support, but what could he do about it? He hammered away at his piss-poor training, almost wincing every time he missed the target, which was painfully often. It angered him to no end that his own village would potentially look down on him despite the fact he was the greatest thing to happen to them since sliced bread, figuratively speaking.

When a shuriken finally stuck into the bulls-eye, he cheered as he usually did and pulled another projectile from his frayed pouch. As he prepared to launch the next ninja star he chuckled slightly at the notion that his target was Sasuke's brooding face. He decided to show off a bit and expertly launched the weapon dead on, striking the center of the wooden post right next to his previous scoring hit.

The blue-haired girl observing the scenario frowned ever so slightly at this. The Uzumaki boy was notorious for being unskilled as a ninja, but she would notice every so often that he would do something brilliant, even if those moments were brief enough to be attributed to luck. She wondered over this for a moment before deciding the she had stalked the boy enough for the day and started towards home. She had made leaps and bounds in the development of her energy weapon since its first field test and she longed to work on it some more.

The blonde genius felt the girl's presence depart and decided to hang around a bit longer to ensure no one else was watching. When this turned out to be the case, he gathered his weaponry and headed for home. There was much work to be done.

------------------------

The third Hokage was drowning in paperwork as he usually did. "_I'm a master ninja for God's sake,_" he complained mentally, "_Not a damn accountant. Why do I have so much paperwork?!_" When he peered up from his desk from what seemed like days he noticed that the natural lighting in the room was waning. The earth's star was setting, leaving behind a brilliant pallet of oranges and yellows that illuminated all they touched. Deciding that a break was in order, Sarutobi strolled over to his living quarters within the central tower.

When he reached his private room and took a seat on the comfortable couch, he refilled his pipe and took a deep whiff of his oral fixation. He blew a pristine stream of smoke out and began formulating his thoughts on a curious… incident from the previous evening.

Sometime late last night he felt a disturbance of some sort. The ground didn't shake and even the vast majority of the village's elite shinobi noticed nothing, but a seasoned veteran such as he felt it nevertheless. If he were to describe it he would have likened it to a shockwave, albeit one of chakra as opposed to vibrations in the air.

His exceptional ANBU ninjas reported nothing out of the ordinary, which worried him to no end. How could the cream of the crop in the shinobi world not feel something that strong? Even more disturbing was that his former teammates, Homura and Koharu, also claimed that they experienced no odd sensations. He knew the Council was full of shit on this matter, seeing as how their views tended to be narrow minded at times. "_In fact,_" he produced a frightening thought while sucking in another mouthful of tobacco smoke, "_They might even be in on it. Only question is: what is 'it'?_"

As the elder Hokage continued enjoying his free time, he had another scary idea. "_What if that was the demon fox? It would certainly describe the aura surrounding it… Then again, the nine-tails is capable of much more power. The entire village would have felt it if it was releasing chakra…_"

Deciding to take cautionary measures, Sarutobi made his way back to his office and summoned one of his former ANBU captains, Kakashi Hatake. Breaking routine, the jonin actually arrived rather quickly given his reputation of being chronically late.

"You called, sir?" the high-level ninja said as he puffed into existence.

"You're on time for once."

"Your message said 'urgent', so I figured it would be good to make time for once."

"Noble," he brushed the revelation off, "Did you feel anything strange last night?"

Kakashi's lone eye furrowed in a mixture of thought and confusion. "No sir."

"Hmm… you too." the lead ninja sat back and murmured to the side. "Kakashi, I have a special assignment for you."

"Sir."

"The parameters are rather vague, so I'll give it to you straight. Last night I felt a… presence of some sort. I don't know whether or not it is hostile or not, but I want you to keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary."

"Such as…?"

"I don't know; people not being where they should be, unusual amounts of chakra in places where it doesn't belong, just anything that seems unusual to you."

"With due respect sir, these orders seem…" the copy ninja paused while trying to think of an appropriate way to phrase his concern.

"Crazy?" he cut him off. "Yes, I know I sound like a senile old man right now, but I have a feeling that erring on the side of caution is necessary this time. Any questions regarding your mission?"

"How long is the mission to last?"

Sarutobi didn't respond for a moment. Even he barely knew what to look for, much less how to assign it to someone else. "Indefinitely. This mission is merely to be tacked onto your daily routines, so it shouldn't be difficult. If anything turns up, report to me _immediately_."

"Yes, sir!"

------------------------

Hinata sat in her makeshift lair underneath her room in the Hyuuga mansion tinkering with her energy weapon. The field test the previous evening informed her of a multitude of issues with the amazing device.

First off, she was grateful that she and Curse were interrupted and had to end the skirmish because the battery she installed in the curved handle was bone dry. "_This thing takes a ton of power,_" she mused. "_I'm gonna have to improve the batteries or something. I don't really see how I can reduce the energy consumption without also reducing the charge. Maybe if I built a small generator…_" Her young intelligent mind began working out the mechanics of such an electrical machine. "_Small my ass! There's no way around it, is there? Well, maybe if I repurpose Yin and Yang…_" She unconsciously reached for her lethal top before stopping herself; she always left that nifty little weapon in her main lab. "_Well, nothing else to do…_" she thought as she climbed up the short shaft up into her room.

She exited her secondary workplace and began resetting all her safety measures over the gaping hole before closing it off and placing the ordinary floor mat over the metal door. The moment the mat left her fingers and fell into place with a soft 'thud', Hinata was startled by a sudden opening of her door. Her head shot over to regard the visitor with wide eyes. "H-Hanabi?!" she cried, standing up more swiftly than she thought humanly possible.

"What are you doing, sister?"

"Uh…" she responded, so surprised that an immediate excuse didn't form in her mind. "I- I tripped on m-my sandal…"

"You're clumsy, but not _that_ bad…" the younger girl retorted. Damn her and her attitude. "Was the mat pulled up?"

"Huh?" she tried to maintain the illusion of an ignorant klutz by gazing at the mat behind her. "M-maybe. I m-might have tripped o-over it…"

Hanabi gave a look of dissatisfaction before giving up on the argument. "Father wants to see you."

"O-okay," the undercover genius replied as she passed her sibling and started for her father's chamber.

------------------------

Naruto was anxious in his hidden room. Not only was he frustrated at the fact that Silence's newest weapon forced him to rely on the fox for defense, but also by the sudden interruption of the unknown man in the tunnels. His stomach stirred uncomfortably every time he thought about the stranger.

"_I can't deal with this right now._" He concluded his evening session and scaled the hidden vertical passage into his room. After properly resealing all the locks, barriers, and traps to his hole, he boiled some water for some instant ramen. After a passable meal, he turned off the lights and lied in his bed, images of days gone by running through his head uncontrollably.

"C'mon," he whined to no one as he tossed and turned. "I just wanna sleep a little." Even so, slumber still avoided him and he succumbed to reviewing all the thoughts in his mind.

He remembered the first days that he now knew were milestones in his intellectual advancement. One day many years ago, he was playing by his lonesome self when he accidentally released a bit of chakra against the sand under his feet. This mysterious occurrence intrigued him so much that he brought it up to old man Hokage who, recognizing the effects as basic chakra manipulation, informed the young child that he had real potential. Excited by the prospects of learning even greater things, the blonde continued to hone his small skills on his own.

When he was of proper age, he enrolled himself into Konoha's Ninja Academy. He had learned off the bat some extremely basic chakra exercises and tried them out in the privacy of his own home, and that was when things changed.

The third time he tried a simple exercise in control was his first brush with the demon fox sealed within him. It wasn't so much an encounter as it was him happening by a strange voice in his head that spoke independently from himself. At first, Naruto thought it was normal for ninjas to hear things, but then his interactions with the other students eventually led him to understand that this was not the case. After this revelation, the budding prodigy believed for a while that he was going insane, as the strange deep voice in his mind would constantly berate him and suggest he perform incredible acts of cruel torture and heinous murder.

Then one night, the Uzumaki genius finally confronted the foreign voice. When it responded to his questions and demands, the boy finally realized that this spiteful entity was none other than the nine-tailed fox itself. Once he understood that he housed the powerful demon, he wept hard that evening in the knowledge that that was why he was treated with such disdain from everyone.

He thought about bringing it up with the third Hokage but decided against it. In his years, he had learned that, somehow, people heard everything regardless of how quietly it was spoken. If the villagers knew that he was finally aware of what was in him, they might try to kill him in a bout of vigilante justice. That would not do.

On that night so long ago, Naruto vowed to himself to become the greatest shinobi in the village, nay, the world, and prove to everyone just how vain and conceived they were to assume his worth based on events beyond his control. The fact that his brilliant mind absorbed knowledge like a sponge was merely an aid for his goal.

With that memory, the boy's eyes could stay open no longer and he drifted off into the unbiased arms of slumber.

------------------------

Hinata was returning to her room from her overbearing father's chamber. She was fuming inwardly at his incessant negative remarks; he summoned her merely so he could order her not to fail the Genin exam coming up in the next two days and nothing more. "_I'll show you one day, old man!!_" she shrieked mentally, "_I'll show all of you how big an asshole every one of you are!!_"

She checked her ranting in favor of going to bed when she slid open her door and found a sight horrifying to her lavender eyes.

"Hinata, what is this?" Hanabi asked as she pointed to the metal door leading to the older Hyuuga's secret lab.

"I-I don't know…" she replied with as much shock as she could muster. Her mind was in a mix of panic and rage at her snobby sister.

"Why is it in your room?"

"I-I have no idea, Hanabi." She tried to sound nervous as she approached her younger sibling while drawing a small syringe from a pouch in her clothing.

"Does father know about this?" the small girl asked while gazing at the floor.

"I don't think so," she responded before leaning next to her sister and sticking the needle into her neck. As soon as she injected the cocktail into Hanabi, she continued, "And neither will you."

The genius Hyuuga moved swiftly to shut the door to her room and replace the mat before attending to her drugged sister. She propped the little girl against the wall and stared straight into her drooping eyes.

"You will not remember this," she spoke eerily to the child. "You will wake up and everything will be normal. Do you understand?" When the question was met with a dozing nod, she said, "Repeat what I said."

"Everything will be fine tomorrow," the youger sister replied like a quiet drunk. "There is nothing wrong."

"You will forget about all this; it is a bad dream."

"This is just a dream. I'll wake up from…" She trailed off before she could finish her statement and fell into a deep sleep.

"Alright, let's get you to bed," Hinata said with resolution as she hiked the snoozing girl onto her shoulders and quietly made her way to the sibling's room to deposit her. "_Urg… I hope this hypnotism stuff works._"

------------------------

As Danzo dismissed a handful of his ROOT followers, Koharu and Homura approached him in his desolate office. The room was devoid of character, as furniture consisted of a single desk and chair. Filing cabinets or fixtures that otherwise stored documents were nowhere to be seen, as the very nature of the organization was unofficial, and publicly holding records of its actions was unheard of.

"Any news on the presence?" Homura began.

The old war hawk shook his head. "Not as of yet, but my subordinates have found traces of another."

"Another person?" Koharu interjected.

"Yes, although there is a significant lack of information on them as well. All my forces can find is evidence of two combatants and no more. Nothing to indicate identity."

"I see… any word from our associate?"

"Just our standing orders. It appears he has not taken these intruders into account in our plans…"

As if the elder people's minds were read, a ROOT member shimmered into view before them in a kneeling position. "Sir!" the masked ninja stated, "A message for you." He held out an envelope and, upon being relieved of it, disappeared from the secured room.

Homura's brow furrowed at the means of which the letter was stored. "An envelope? Why does he insist on using such arcane forms of delivering messages? It sticks out like a sore thumb."

Danzo ignored the observation while he silently read the folded letter from the package. Upon finishing, he handed the letter off to the elders and said, "It appears we now have new orders regarding these two."

As Sarutobi's former teammates simultaneously read the paper, Koharu voiced the important bits. "'Recruit said involved individuals upon discovery or, should their will be not for the common good, terminate their terms of employment and proceed with the operation as planned'." Once she saw the dated signature at the bottom she followed protocol and burned it with chakra-induced flames. "Danzo, I would appreciate it if you would inform us of new occurrences before reporting them to him."

"I'm sorry…?" the old shinobi said with mild confusion.

"He knew there was more than one intruder."

"What is disturbing about that is I have not submitted a report to him yet. He has somehow figured out the presence of another all on his own."

The elder Council members merely furrowed their brows in concern before exiting the hidden office. Their 'associate' was proving to be more than met the eye…

------------------------

Shiori and Ichirou had been busy for what seemed to be forever. Apparently, they had been working for several days, as their Mistress had informed them she was taking a day off for 'preparations' after a sizeable workload. Usually that meant she was taking a breather from her time-consuming work, but this day was being set aside for acts of espionage. The reassembled Hyuugas noticed quite a few camera signals being set up on their concealed line and immediately knew what their leader was up to.

As they brought new monitoring equipment online, tapped them into the new cameras, and began the extensive recording, they also performed the task given to them that took high priority as of one day ago. For some reason or another, Hinata had ordered them to sift through the many radio signals from Konoha in search of anything 'out of place'. They heartily obeyed their savior and got to work on it, but nothing unusual reared its head. There was the normal chatter from all the ninja teams operating within the village, the confidential messages being broadcasted from the intelligence department and ANBU headquarters, and the occasional civilian contractor barking out irrelevant things.

They honestly had no idea what their Mistress wanted so they saved all the classified stuff in the hopes that they would be useful one day. "Hey, Shiori," Ichirou whined, "I'm bored! Let's do something!"

"Shut it stupid! We have to follow Mistress's orders!"

"But I gotta live sometime!"

"You're not alive to begin with!"

"You're so mean…"

"It's the truth!"

As the two's argument degraded into something totally juvenile, the recorder on one of the low-frequency radios picked up a quiet scratch of a conversation. When a pause in the reassembled Hyuuga's 'discussion' was filled with a codename foreign to their ears, they broke off and listened in.

After several minutes, the static-ridden conversation ended and Shiori turned to her partially-alive comrade with a look of triumph. "See? _That's_why we hang around!"

"Fine…" he conceded defeat and sat down to filter through the recording and decipher as much as he could.

------------------------

When the Genin exam finally rolled around, Hinata and Naruto were unconcerned about it; not so much out of confidence in their abilities but rather their preoccupation with other more important matters.

The Uzumaki, as he predicted, failed the test for the third time. Truthfully, he didn't care all that much about the results, mostly because he was physically incapable of performing the useless technique of making non-corporeal clones. "_Figures,_" he mused, "_Just my luck that the deciding move would be one I can't manage. I'm tellin' ya, it hurts like shit trying to compress my chakra down to a damn clone that can't do anything!_" He shook his head to clear his complaints while sitting dejectedly on the swing outside the Academy. "_Anyways, I've got bigger things to worry about. Since I failed, there's not much use in training tonight, so I think it's time for a little extra exploration…_" He was broken from his thoughts by one of the teachers, Mizuki.

The Hyuuga was disinterested in the new headband that was tied around her neck. Everything in the Academy was so incredibly simple that it would be impossible for her to _not_ pass its simple test, but even so, she was thinking about the work she had set up for that evening. Out of the corner of her lavender eyes she noticed Naruto seated on a swing, looking as glum as a human could. "_Poor guy,_" she felt sorry for him. "_He works so hard but is held back every time… I mean, c'mon, there are other students who've passed without being able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu…_" Her eyes narrowed when she noticed the blonde boy vacate the scene with Mizuki but she dismissed it without a second thought. "_Either way, I've got a lot of crap to sift through tonight. May as well get started._"

------------------------

It had been a long night for the demon container. He was just getting home from his 'alternative' exam, also known as assisting that bastard Mizuki betray the village. On the plus side of everything, he learned that his benevolent teacher, Iruka, was far more sympathetic than he had initially realized, going so far as to take numerous hits for him. His respect for the man skyrocketed that evening.

To accentuate the benefits of that night, the blonde boy had also gotten a good look at the forbidden scroll. He had learned the incredibly useful 'Shadow Clone' technique, which proved surprisingly difficult to learn without assistance, and also taken a gander at a few other moves' instructions, although he didn't have enough time to try them out. Things were definitely looking up.

He was disappointed that all this great stuff had burned through his evening and robbed him of a chance to further explore the hive beneath Konoha, but he was satisfied at a job well done nevertheless. He decided to eat some instant ramen and hit the hay.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Hinata was also having a breakthrough, albeit of another variety. After sending Shiori and Ichirou on their routine patrol, she had sat down to sift through a variable mountain of data her subordinates had collected in her absence. While there was no lack of notable points, such as some ANBU assassination missions and an assignment to cover up an affair the Fire Lord had been having, there was nothing that pertained to what she was really looking for. Many hours had passed since she began and she was about to call it a night when she came across a transcript that had been buried in the pile.

"Dammit, Ichirou," she mumbled. The document was incorrectly filed, an action which screamed of the male reassembled Hyuuga. "I gotta teach him that this isn't… how…" Her complaints were silenced as she began to read through the thing. She suddenly tore through the handful of pages to find the documentation on the radio conversation. Upon locating it, she leaned across her expansive desk and pulled the recording that corresponded with the written statement then played it back.

Much of the conversation was garbled and interrupted by long bouts of static, but the audible portions were understandable. Her lavender eyes widened when she realized it was a report of some sort.

"…Dual to… base," the recording crackled as Hinata read along in its incomplete transcript. "…come in."

"HQ… dual… report. Over."

"No sign of… Zeta class threat. Over"

"Copy. Any… else? Over."

"Roger. Traces… more than one… individual…"

"Copy that. Your shift… yet?"

A third, gruff female voice interrupted the dialog. "Keep… line clear, fuck…"

"Yes, commander."

"Yes, ma'am."

The 'leader's' authoritative voice spoke one last time. "Dual, return… HQ… the double… more work from lord… over."

"Yes, ma'am. Over."

While there was more chatter on the recorded channel, the Hyuuga genius found this tidbit far more revealing than the rest of the captured transmission. "I_knew_ it!" she exclaimed as she slammed her hands on the table and rose with a look of triumph. "Those guys are taking orders from someone, and something's going down!"

After her moment of victory, she placed all the documentation back where it belonged and trudged back to her oppressive home to catch some Z's. Genin teams were going to be announced the next morning and she didn't want to be dead tired. Besides, she had an image of a prim and proper shy girl to uphold.

* * *

Just who are these people on the radio?!

Who's orders are they following?!!

And why is the rum gone?!!!

Sorry, couldn't resist. Just ignore my stupidity in text format.

Anyways, I would like to know if you folks are enjoying where this is going. The first chapter got a shit-ton of reviews that kinda tapered off... I feel unloved (sarcastic weeping ensues).

Seriously though, how am I doin? Is there anything you think I could improve upon at this stage? It's still rather early, but still... I base a lot of weight for ideas on how you guys react. Later!


	5. We aint gonna fall! Unless theres cake!

Yo! Not much to say, so enjoy.

obligatory shower sce- I mean disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and never will. But a man can dream, right?

* * *

Hinata's morning had been… interesting… so far. As planned, she arrived at the Academy early and took her seat high in the stands to await the team assignments. She anticipated for the day to be rather dull, but all her expectations went out the window the instant she saw Naruto enter the room wearing an official ninja headband. "_What's this?_" she wondered, her brow furrowing ever so slightly in thought. "_When did he pass? I know he failed the test, so… perhaps he retook it? No, no one would allow that. However he did it, I think I'll have to keep an eye on him…_"

The Uzumaki was, likewise, having an unusual day. Well, more like a frustrating one. Pretty much everyone expressed disbelief that he passed with them despite their total inferiority. "_Seriously,_" he complained inwardly, "_Why can't the Academy filter students out more efficiently? Hell, maybe the village hidden in the Mist had the right idea…_" he mused, recalling the 'Blood Mist' village's novice ninja test of the graduating class fighting to the death in a battle royale. He was shaken from his thoughts when Iruka began calling out teams.

The blonde was mortified that he was stuck with Sakura and Sasuke, two of his most hated people in the entire city. It didn't help matters when the Uchiha told him to 'stay out of his way'. "_As if this fire-spewing fuck's going to last on his own!!_" he ranted mentally, barely checking the urge to pull a sword from one of his tattooed seals and slice the boy's head off. "_If it was just Sakura, I could handle it,_" he reasoned, "_But to have both of them on the same squad… what did I ever do to deserve this?_"

The Hyuuga, however, wasn't quite as displeased with her new comrades. Shino was definitely the better of the two, as his analytical skills were exceptional for his age and he kept his emotions sealed up like an ideal ninja. Kiba on the other hand was a wild card. To be sure, he had unique prospects in his techniques that could make him deadly merely because his moves were unorthodox, but his strategizing self was damn near nothing. Plus, he stunk to high heaven. No amount of deodorant could cover his scent.

The closet geniuses got up with everyone else and took a lunch break. Their jonin squad leaders were going to pick up their respective teams later that afternoon. The Konoha prodigies had no idea what was in store for them…

------------------------

Kakashi was enjoying his evening as much as he could. He had already met and dispersed his genin team for the day to prepare for his infamous bell test the next day, and he was kicking back by reading one of his favorite adult novels. He had expected to be charged with the Uchiha boy due to his grafted-on Sharingan eye, but the Uzumaki boy had thrown him for a loop. Thinking back to the unofficial mission the Hokage gave him, he also recalled hearing rumors on how the blonde child failed the initial exam then miraculously passed via 'alternative' means.

"_Lord Hokage mentioned that Naruto passed by learning the 'Shadow Clone' technique,_" he mused while reading. "_Not only that, but he managed to create far more than I could ever hope to. I think I should keep my eye on him…_" he concluded and brushed the subject to the side. The bell test would determine whether or not he should continue this obscure line of evidence.

Little did the copy ninja know that there was one other jonin instructor going through a similar thought process. Kurenai Yuhi was contemplating a strange feeling she had from earlier that day. When she picked up her team of novice ninjas, she immediately recognized Hinata whom she chaperoned in her earlier days as a shinobi. She felt sorry for the down beaten girl due to her depressing household and overbearing family. While she was going through formal introductions with her potential pupils, a small tingling feeling formed in her gut.

The genjutsu user was not a superstitious person by a long shot; she believed in logical decisions as well as human emotions based on dire situations. While she prided herself on her rather extensive repertoire of all-around knowledge, occasionally she had a gut feeling that told her things were just… off. This day was one of those days.

The unsettling sensation came around when Kurenai eyed Hinata for a few lingering seconds. For whatever reason, she felt like there was some kind of illusion being cast around the girl, not a complicated projection, but it was as if there was some object on the girl that was being protected in some way by the ninja art of genjutsu. She couldn't be certain, but the red-eyed woman felt the miniscule knot in her stomach would not come undone until she had put her mind at total ease.

Her final test would provide an opportunity to look into it.

------------------------

Danzo made his way down the old, familiar hallway within the Hokage tower to meet with the elders. Per usual, Koharu and Homura were awaiting patiently in their secured dwelling.

"Danzo," Koharu began when the old war hawk was seated, "We need to talk about our associate…"

"I am fully aware of your concerns," he answered immediately as if he expected the topic to be brought up, "And I can assure you that we still hold the upper hand."

"How can you be so sure?" Homura interjected. "This whole business revolves around secrets. It is unwise to assume that we know everything."

"I agree," the elderly woman added, "There are things that we haven't even told him and he seems to know about them anyway."

Danzo didn't respond right away. He mulled over everything in his mind before formulating a quick plan of action. "Consider this: our associate is but one man…"

"That we know of."

"Despite his seeming omnipresence, we know he cannot possibly be everywhere at once. He is physically incapable of such an act…"

"What if he uses Shadow Clones?" Homura conjectured. "We have never seen the true extent of his abilities. Hell, we haven't even seen his face; we don't even know if it's truly a 'he'!"

"Besides that," Koharu continued, "How do you know he does not have spies within our city? Or even within our own shinobi ranks?"

"That is impossible," the scarred man defended his position, "All my subordinates are accounted for and there are no extra heads. There aren't even any additional normal ninjas within Konoha; he has no one on the inside."

"What about civilians?"

"Civilians would be pointless; they don't have access to any information regarding shinobi material."

"How about if they are ninjas in disguise?" Homura offered. "There have been accounts, if rare, of individuals with extraordinary skills who have been able to hide in plain sight…"

"Like our two phantoms," the elder councilwoman finished.

The war hawk merely nodded his head in thought. He would never admit it, but these two fossils had a point; their 'associate' was a Rubik's cube of infinite size, a person with no face, no name, and no identity to speak of. The only means of communication with the figure was through letters written to them in arcane lettering and delivered in antique envelopes. They didn't even really have a sure way to 'speak' back; 'he' somehow knew what they were discussing no matter the secrecy of their meetings. His train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Without a needed response a masked ROOT member entered the room, clutching yet another envelope in his hand. "Sir, another message."

Not saying a word, Danzo accepted the package and read its contents. His eye widened at the words in the document and his head shot over to the underling. "You! Did you see his face?!"

"No sir. Regular pickup as usual."

"I see." He calmed himself down. "Dismissed."

After the masked ninja departed and the door shut, Koharu inquired as to the source of the war hawk's sudden concern. "What does it say?"

"It says not to worry too much about secrets; we know all we need to…"

"Rather odd thing to write…" Homura rubbed his chin. "Is that all?"

"I don't think you understand," Danzo explained further, "He's saying not to worry. He's talking about the conversation we're having _right now_."

------------------------

Two days later, Naruto was busy during the daylight hours performing chores under the guise of missions. It irritated him that he was performing mere tasks that the villagers were too damn lazy to do themselves, but considering how close he came to not passing Kakashi's bell test, he was elated that he was doing any official ninja work at all.

The blonde genius immediately understood what the one-eyed shinobi was pushing: teamwork. He knew that the real test wasn't in obtaining the bells but rather interacting with his team in the process. While he had full confidence in his own skills, he was honestly worried at one point that they would fail due to the sheer arrogance of the Uchiha and the mindless crushing of the pink-haired banshee. It all turned out well in the end, but it did little to satiate his anger towards Sasuke. "_I swear,_" he thought lightly, "_I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna black out in a fit of rage one day and murder him!_"

His annoyance for Sakura wasn't much better, but she was tolerable at her worst; the urge to remove her head from her shoulders wasn't as strong. To be sure, some days he felt like clocking her cold whenever she got on a roll about how great the Uchiha was and how much of a loser he was, but doing so would only bring his cover into question. "_Speaking of which,_" he mused on a more serious matter, "_Kakashi's no pushover… he doesn't do it much, but I notice him eyein' me from time to time. Either he's a pedophile with a thing for blondes or…_" he continued with a tinge of fright, "_He's caught onto me somehow… dammit, it's probably that Mass Shadow Clone technique I pulled. Attracts attention._" He smirked at the ironic situation; the one exceptional move he learned in public had the potential to blow his concealed genius. "_Looks like I'll have to be extra careful from now on…_"

Unbeknownst to the Uzumaki, Hinata was having a strangely similar time dealing with her own instructor. The girl kicked herself mentally when she first met with Kurenai as a genin and noticed the genjutsu user's eyes furrow for a fraction of an instant when looking her way. "_Damn pouch,_" she berated herself for carrying around the wrapped piece of cloth that held small instruments such as hypodermic needles and scalpels, "_I shoulda left it at home that day! I'm pretty sure she noticed the genjutsu seals around it… no matter, I just have to watch what I'm carrying._"

As she continued in her mindless chore of an assignment, her mind wandered to other more important things. "_I checked up with Shiori and Ichirou, but they haven't seen anything on the monitors about Naruto. The guy does his missions, trains 'til he drops, then goes home. How the hell did pass the genin exam? It's not like it's hard, but he's failed twice before doing that exact same routine. Why is this time any different? I may have to do some more… in depth research._"

As Kurenai observed her novice team working away in their training, she sat back against her tree to take in the cool air. The sky was blue with only a few pristine white clouds dotting the horizon and the breeze was lukewarm in the summer sun. As her eyes drifted between Shino, Kiba and his dog, and Hinata, her analytical brain began to crank away at that funny feeling she had a few days prior. "_Is it possible that I'm just paranoid?_" she wondered. "_They're only genin, but those three worked themselves to the bone during my test. Funny thing about it though; Hinata didn't seem to be as tired as she let on. It's like she was acting or something…_" She paused for a moment when she noticed said Hyuuga performing her duties without error. "_She's a hardworking girl, but she doesn't have any confidence to speak of. Such a thing would naturally come about from faltering in every little thing, but she's made no mistakes so far. In fact, she outperforms Kiba and Shin in terms of efficiency…_" She concluded her musings to step in when Shino approached her and announced that they were finished.

When his teacher strode over to the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga, the young bug user was having thoughts of his own. When they had passed the survival test and truly became a team, he planted a single insect on each member of his squad so he could keep tabs on them in case of emergency. What bothered him was that the bug assigned to Hinata returned mere hours later in a severely disorientated state. "_Its movements and communication patterns were highly erratic,_" he mentally reviewed, "_Indicative of contact with one of the very few substances that are poisonous or otherwise harmful to my insects. What is most bothersome is that we keep those substances closely guarded; only the Hokage should know about them in case of insurgency. Why would Hinata know anything about them?_" He decided to dismiss any further contemplating on the subject; he had little to no evidence relevant to the situation.

------------------------

That night, Naruto was roaming the tunnels as he so enjoyed. He had made his way to what he called 'the Hub'- the massive cylindrical chamber where he last fought Silence- and chose a connecting hole at random somewhere near the top. He was about a half hour down the desolate stony passage when he decided to stop and take out his map.

After marking the piece of paper up, he figure he was somewhere near an adjoining tunnel of the ANBU headquarters. He folded the parchment up and placed it back in his camouflaged jacket when his masked head suddenly shot around when he felt a presence.

His azure eyes, hidden behind lenses of one-way mirrors, found something entirely unexpected- a handful of masked men. The newcomers wore the visages not uncommon within the ANBU ranks, but they also wore shrouds that covered their bodies from the neck down.

"State your business here!" the lead man demanded while grasping a hilt protruding from the cloak.

The blonde genius stood and faced the three ninjas with firm resolve. His appearance was certainly jarring as the red mane that covered his hair made him seem more demonic than human. "They call me 'Curse'," he answered apathetically. "What is _your_ business here?"

For a moment, the masks turned slightly and bounced as the shinobi nodded in agreement of something. The commanding man spoke again. "Were you involved with the recent chakra spike?"

"What if I was?" he returned smugly.

"Then we are instructed to offer you employment in our organization."

He raised an eyebrow behind his modified mask. Employment? "What organization?"

"I cannot say until you are with us."

"Fine. I'm in."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. You have to be inducted and your loyalty proven to lie with us."

"No can do."

"Then you are a threat and must be neutralized." With that, the trio of shrouded ninja shot forward, all three drawing swords from their cloaks.

Naruto instantly responded by placing his palms over the seals on his triceps then flinging his hands down his arms, unleashing a wave of shuriken through the normally sealed slits in the long sleeves. As soon as his limbs were outstretched from the movements, he poured chakra into the rings on his fingers and a handful of deadly yo-yos flew out just behind the ninja star barrage.

The lead ANBU-like man swung his sword and the force of the following wind batted away the shuriken, but the wires attached to the lethal toys spun around the blade and, when the buzz-saws inside the devices made contact with the weapon, shredded it into several large pieces. He tossed the useless sword aside and tossed a handful of kunai at Curse.

The Uzumaki reeled the yo-yos back into the marks on the rings and pulled a spiraling metal spear from one of the seals in his back then knocked the incoming knives away before thrusting it forward and missing the lead ninja. He swung the pike back towards himself to successfully block the other two shinobi's blades but left himself open to the third man who had maneuvered behind him. The unhindered enemy wrenched a slimmer blade from under his arm and struck at the blonde in one motion. Curse kicked his leg up just in time for the opponent's blade to clash against the metal plates screwed into his geta sandals before pushing off. The moment he kicked his protruding leg out, he launched himself up and brought the business end of the spear down on the man while kicking his armored feet out at the duo behind him.

The ninja now to his front had, in the course of Naruto's split second travel through the air, unleashed a second slim blade and caught the heavy spear's sharp point with both mini-swords. He grit his teeth behind his ivory mask due to the major impact of the shaft weapon which was strong enough to create cracks in his small blades before pushing the mysterious intruder away and onto his waiting comrades. The other two immediately slid their long blades free from the armored sandals and sliced into Curse's torso…

Only to have the prodigy disappear in a puff of smoke. "Shadow Clone!" the leading ANBU look-alike yelled before spinning on his heel to cover his weak point. His comrades followed suit by pressing their backs to his in a basic triangle defense formation that covered all directions in the dim tunnel.

"Where'd he go…?" one of the subordinates whispered, his efforts to sense any nearby chakra failing miserably.

"Just keep your eyes open," the head masked man ordered calmly. "He probably used the clone as a decoy to make an escape…"

"Or not," a voice from above countered softly before a pair of armored feet landed on the unfortunate subordinates' heads, immediately trailed by a pair of curved kunai slashing the men's throats.

As the recently departed men slumped to the ground, the assumed commander leapt back while tossing his twin blades at Naruto. Said blonde flipped the exotic knives in his hands and caught the incoming swords with the iron loops at the other ends of his weapons' hilts. "Done?" he mocked as he 'sheathed' the curved kunai into his arm seals, pulled out his ninjato, and went into a low stance to await his opponent.

"You… monster! Damn monster!" the leader cursed as he pulled a scroll used for seals from under his cloak. "You'll pay for…!"

He never finished his sentence. Instead, his body suddenly stiffened then went loose and fell to the ground. The Uzumaki noticed a series of hair-thin throwing knives imbedded along the dead man's spine before glancing up and finding their owner. What he found surprised him far more than the unexpected trio.

"Um… er… G-greetings…" A small girl who couldn't have been more than nine years old stood a few yards behind the still-warm corpse. Her interlocking fingers twitched as they fidgeted mere inches away from her face and she tried to duck her head into her shirt. Her brown hair was neatly pulled back into a messy ponytail and she wore a large grey raggedy shirt with skin tight shorts of similar material. Her dull leather belt held two large rectangular pouches on both sides and ten wormlike pieces of intricate metal on the front. She bowed deeply as if she forgot about the formality. "M-my name i-is Shia."

Curse didn't relax his guard. Despite the girl's projected innocence, she had just killed an ANBU look-like without any issues. She had to be dangerous. "Curse," he answered. "What's your business?"

She continued to fidget. "I-I heard you s-say you were re-responsible for that chakra s-spike a while ago. I-is that t-true?"

"_Damn, she stutters as badly as Hinata. What's her deal?_" he thought before replying. "Yeah, what of it? You lookin' to hire me too?"

"Oh!" she yelped in surprise at the statement as if she never considered it. "T-that would be g-good! W-would you like t-to help us?"

"Help who?"

Her eyes dimmed a bit as she looked down in disappointment. "I guess t-that's a no go…" She suddenly brightened up. "Oh w-well, I still h-have my orders!"

"And they are…?"

"T-to exterminate a-any threats," she smiled with a blush before something… primal changed in her facial features.

------------------------

"_What the hell?_" Hinata wondered, "_How did I get into this situation?_"

The blue-haired girl followed up on her mental whining by firing another set of her shrapnel spikes. The metal rods traveled to the nearest masked man and exploded in a hail of steel shards. The man dodged most of the shots but took a number of hits in the leg.

"_Curse he is not,_" she thought smugly. These guys had nothing on her little bag of tricks.

The ANBU look-alike who she had just nailed slid to the ground to pull free the slivers in his limb while one of his buddies covered him and the other charged the Hyuuga while running through a series of hand seals. The white-eyed girl watched his fingers carefully then acted swiftly.

"Eat this!" the charging ninja yelled when his hands suddenly crackled with frost. It was a mixture of water and wind elements to create some kind of ice-based technique. He came within striking distance then thrust his right arm forward while holding the other back for defense.

The prodigy's response was simply to reach out and jab a few points along the man's arm, nullifying the chakra in the affected limb. The shinobi cursed and, in the heat of the moment, threw his other arm out only to have it impact something sharp.

While the enemy was caught up in his move, he failed to notice another set of spikes loading into Hinata's launchers. He cursed mentally and reflexively pulled his arm back, but it was too late. The moment his flesh cleared the metal, the projectile shot forward with a blast of burning steam and was firmly imbedded in the man's arm. A moment later the rod exploded and rendered the limb nothing more than a hunk of dangling meat and bone.

The genius girl followed up on the counterattack by jabbing the man in the neck, sending a pulse of chakra to his spine and severing every nerve in the essential backbone. She let the man crash to the ground as his body went into shock and advanced onto the recovering pair. The man guarding his injured buddy lifted his mask a bit to reveal his mouth and spit forth a steady stream of fire. Without skipping a beat, the Hyuuga genius ducked and planted her palms on the cold stone of the ground, invoking a solid wall of dirt and granite to rise and block the flames. When it was over the impromptu soil shield crumbled away, leaving a very much unharmed prodigy staring down the ANBU wannabes through an unbroken mask.

The injured ninja pulled out the last of the slivers and attempted to stand. The moment her hobbled onto his foot though, a cutlass was thrust through his heart from behind, ensuring a bloody death. Gurgling blood before passing on, the shinobi slumped to the ground while the large sword slid out of him as he fell away.

"Who the fuck are you?!" the final opponent shouted in surprise as he turned to attack the newcomer. In a fit of rage, he buried his sword into the large figure's clavicle with no results.

The new enemy merely glanced at the offending blade with disinterest before stabbing its owner with his own large sword and yanking upwards, gutting the man like a fish. When the dead masked man crumpled to the ground, the stranger grasped the blade in him and pulled it out as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience.

Hinata was more than shocked to see this guy. Not only was he apparently of a group separate from the ANBU-like ninjas, but also he didn't react in any way to the weapon imbedded in him. "Who are you?" she asked with a firm voice.

"I am called Fumetsu," he replied with a deep uncaring voice. He was an unshaven stocky man who wore what could only be described as a ratty poncho with a short-brimmed hat to match. His long shirt and pants matched the crappy brown material of the rest of his clothes and were held in place by a similarly colored leather belt. The only remarkable thing about his outfit was the steel-tipped ebony combat boots partially hidden by the scraggly ends of his pants. "I take it you were involved with that large presence a while ago?"

"That's right," she responded while lightly grasping her energy weapon. There was no question that this guy was dangerous.

"I have been ordered to neutralize any and all threats." He raised his large cutlass at her. "We will finish this now."

* * *

I have midterm projects coming up (actually, they're going on right now), so don't be surprised if I miss a weekend or two.

Notice I said 'projects' and not 'tests'. We don't have written tests, we have work-your-ass-off-'till-you-drop-and-maybe-you'll-pass projects. They take tons of time no matter how good you get. Just thought you'd like to know.

If you need somethin' to pass the time, go watch "Penn and Teller- Bullshit" on youtube. Great stuff!! Later.


	6. Stutterers and Dead Men tell no tales!

Longest chapter yet! Soooo tired... 

Enjoy. Note: I don't own Naruto, but I sure could use the dough...

* * *

Naruto charged the little girl with his sword drawn, ready to strike at a moment's notice. She responded by dipping her hands into the pouches at her side and, in a blur of motion, launching handfuls of narrow throwing knives at the blonde. 

Curse jabbed his ninjato into the ceiling of the cramped tunnel, twisted sideways, and pulled himself up with the sword's seals cementing the blade in place. The knives passed harmlessly mere centimeters from his back and he dropped down while yanking his customized weapon after him. The marks in the steel glowed with brighter intensity and a long whip of rock followed after the blade. The genius boy hit the ground and began twirling his sword in a circular pattern, prompting the elongated stone rope to rotate across the passage and crash into the walls with great force.

Shia merely grinned devilishly before jamming her fingers into the slips of metal at the front of her belt. She pulled her hands back and caught the swift chord over her head, the pieces of intricate metal snugly fit over her fingers glowing with strange glyphs. The whip instantly fell apart into pieces and she let loose another salvo of throwing knives at the prodigy.

"What the hell?!" he shouted as he thrust his left hand forward and unleashed a dozen bladed yo-yos from the rings. The devices spun hard in the air and impacted the incoming blades, shredding them to bits before he sent chakra down the wires and forced them to hit the ground and roll speedily towards the girl. He tucked his sword into a loose red sash at his side and flung another series of deadly toys from the rings on his right hand.

The mysterious girl shouted, "Is that it?! That's all I gotta deal with?!" before brushing the ground with her armored fingers. The seals on the metal flashed and she flexed a few digits seemingly at random. The ground suddenly rolled away from her then cracked as dozens of jagged spikes jutted outwards and halted the yo-yos spinning along the ground. She then stood and held her arms away from her body, fingers outstretched and clearly showcasing the burning glyphs of the small metal shafts.

Naruto cursed under his breath and send a surge of chakra down the wires of the lethal playthings in midair. With a burst of smoke, the sides burst away from all the yo-yos and the spinning buzz saws' momentum flung pairs of hidden shuriken forward. The weapons then dipped and back lashed into the ceiling as the blonde whipped their control strands upwards.

"Ha!" Shia mocked with confidence, "Worthless!" she flipped her hands around and a blast of wind howled through the gaps between her digits, knocking the ninja stars out of the air. She then clasped her hands together and the seals on the metal glowed like mad before she extended her pinky and index fingers. A sudden burst of hot flame streaked down the gust of wind towards the Uzumaki, the ignition source apparently shimmering around her pinkies. "Step it up, Curse!"

The azure-eyed genius sent another surge of energy down the lines to the playthings imbedded in the roof and the miniature saw blades began grinding against the stone, propelling the weapons forward with sudden haste. He ducked low to avoid wholesale barbequing and pulled down on the wires, bringing the saws down on his opponent. When he heard her yelp over the crackling of the flames, he lifted his mask a bit and pulled down on the underlying cloth to reveal his mouth and spit out a deluge to counter the searing fireball. The water did so and he moved his visage back into place before recalling his weapons stuck in the ground.

"Ah, clever!" Shia continued to mock him as her hands became blurs and salvos of throwing knives flew from her side pouches. "Try all this though!" She then buried her finger guards into the nearest wall and activated their multicolored glyphs.

Naruto resealed the undamaged yo-yos and pulled his duel broadswords from his large seals. He leapt against the wall opposite the one the girl's fingers were attached and began sliding towards her while making the wide swords fly in a spectacular dance as they knocked away the many knives. The blonde prodigy smirked behind his mask when the wall across from him suddenly exploded, sending dozens of shards at him. He chucked the curved swords into the ground before him and clapped his hands together before thrusting them out at the incoming rocks. The slight breeze caused by his sudden movements was amplified by his chakra and the wind created by the basic technique sliced through the stones and lowered their velocity. As soon as the danger subsided, he grasped one of his blades and hurled it at his smirking enemy.

The strange girl merely punched the sword with armored fingers and the metal split apart as the weapon shattered. She pulled her hand free from the wall while holding some of the small debris from the earth-based attack and clasped her hands together and the patterned seals on the metal shafts glowed brilliantly.

Curse saw that his sword was destroyed and was pissed. "_It's hard forging good swords these days,_" he complained mentally as he launched himself at the enemy and swung wide with his remaining broadsword. Shia released her hands and countered the blade with an armored set of fingers and the weapon shattered like its late counterpart. She immediately followed up on her attack and threw something at the boy… something very, _very_ hot.

Naruto screamed bloody murder when the pain hit him in the chest and his arms instinctively clutched the source of his extreme discomfort only to be burned themselves. He hit the ground hard and began rolling on the ground in excruciating agony as his burning fingers clawed at his chest. He eventually regained a somewhat coherent state of mind and looked down to discover that the rocks the girl held had been transformed into molten stone and were searing into his flesh. He remembered that the enemy was still there and would probably follow up on her attack, so he reached for his slung ninjato only to encounter a pair of hands. One grasped him on the elbow and slid up his arm, inciting a new world of pain while the other stole his special sword with a swift pull.

"Oooh," Shia cooed while eyeing the custom blade, "Fancy!" She averted her gaze to the writhing form before her. Her stroke against his arm had deconstructed much of the flesh and bone on the limb and the boy seemed to be slipping into shock. Flipping the sword upside down, she raised it over her head in preparation to end his life. "Thanks for the sword!" She thrust downward, aiming for his head.

She blinked in surprise when the critically injured arm of her opponent shot up, impaled itself on the sword, then grasped the guard below the hilt. The girl tugged once to pull the weapon back to no avail and released it when the boy stood to his feet. "_His wounds…_" she thought, stupefied that said injuries were smoking as they closed. Her eyes shifted to his arm as he pulled the blade from his hand and strained the visible muscle, focusing a strange chakra into the limb that immediately began to heal the severe damage. She then realized that he was no more than two feet away from her and moved to put some space between them, but was halted when Curse struck his smoking arm forward and grabbed her by the throat.

"Leggo me!" she demanded weakly as she touched her armored fingers against the limb and began deconstructing it again with the metal's imbedded seals. But before she could force him to let go, Curse stabbed his ninjato into the ground and curled his larger hand around her finger guards and crushed the metal with an iron grip. Shia screamed in pain as the steel cut harshly into her digits and she forgot about trying to focus on the hand around her throat. Instead, she moved her free hand over the smoking limb and tried to mortally wound the offending fist, but Naruto was quicker. The masked prodigy merely grabbed the other hand and crushed the unique weapons around her fingers, ignoring the girl's renewed shrieks of pain.

"P-please let go!" her stutter returned as tears flooded her eyes. "I-I c-cant lose n-now!"

"Too bad," was his simple response. He concluded the fight by pulling her up to his face and, reeling his head back, cracking his hard custom visage against her skull and knocking her out cold. She went limp in his grasp and he released her to gather up all the fallen and destroyed weaponry around them. After a few minutes, he scooped her light body up and headed back to his secret basement. "_She'll be a useful source of information,_" he thought. "_Overall, a productive evening…_"

----------------------

Hinata leapt back for what seemed the millionth time since she began fighting Fumetsu. The man had no apparent strategy, no weaponry beyond himself and his cutlass, and absolutely no sense of danger… and that suited him perfectly.

"_Shit!_" she thought as he knocked away yet another exploding spike and garnered a face full of shrapnel without so much as blinking. "_Doesn't he even feel that?! It's gotta hurt!_" She reloaded the final sharpened rod and decided against its immediate use. "_These are damn worthless against this guy._"

The undying swordsman said nothing as he strode forward with his sword dangling in one hand and plucking the shards out with the other. He had no expression of emotion, no motivation in his step, and no lust for blood. The genius girl bit her lower lip in consideration of her next move then reached back and unwound a handful of wires from a bulky coil clipped to her belt. She eyed the footsteps of her opponent, noting that he was not yet clear of the shrapnel imbedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling, and touched the ends of the metal strands to her fingers. The wires became magnetized by the chakra running through her hands and dropped them before unlocking their circular holster. The steel chords shot forward, attracted to the special metal of the needlelike shrapnel, and wrapped around them in complicated random patterns that littered the passageway.

Fumetsu approached the web of wires and brought his blade down on them to knock them out of the way. The Hyuuga smirked when he did so and connected the strands' coil to the repurposed Yin and Yang, bringing the metal strings to life with crackling electricity. The enemy froze for a moment as the sudden jolt of power surged through his body before bringing his other hand in to slowly continue the task.

"_What the hell?!_" she cursed mentally. "_That's enough power to kill an elephant! How's he not affected?!_" She rushed up to the slowed man and thrust her loaded spike launcher to his neck- she didn't want to destroy his head since retrieving minute bits of information from a deceased brain was not beyond her. She fired and, due to the extreme close proximity of the attack, the bolt passed all the way through the flesh and exited the other side without exploding. "_Finally, got him- shit!_"

Her Byakugan immediately saw him thrust his large cutlass at her and she caught it with her left hand. The blade scraped against the electrified film on her palm and, although the durable stuff guarded her extremity, she could feel the uneven sharpness glance off the underlying flesh. "_How is he not dead?!_" she thought frantically. "_He's got a gaping hole in his neck!_"

Fumetsu pushed forward against the wires blocking his way and into the prodigy girl while slowly forcing his weapon closer and closer to her. His other hand shot forward and gripped the bottom of her blue mask, initiating yet another shock as it activated a surge of electricity. He ignored the pain as usual and began lifting the visage as Silence moved back, revealing the soft lips of the young girl before she opened her mouth and spewed out a thick gas. "_Poison…_" the man's dull mind categorized before he got a good whiff of the toxic fumes and lost his grip in a fit of coughing.

"_Something that affects him!_" the genius girl realized with excitement when she leapt out of the expanding cloud of lethal chemicals. She mixed a bit of chakra with her saliva and spit out a small hail of poisoned needlelike fluid. Her bloodline saw the wheezing enemy take the full brunt of the follow-up attack and she smirked as she moved her mask back into place. "Had enough yet?" she taunted the undying opponent while waiting for the toxins to work their way through his system.

He emerged from the thick mist and coughed lightly a few times before continuing on his casual stroll. "Advanced techniques for one so young," he commented apathetically, "But still not good enough." He brandished his blade and ran a finger along its sharpened edge, extracting no more than a drop of blood. "Let this be a lesson for you," he said before licking the life-giving fluid from his digit and moving his foot in a circular pattern.

Hinata frowned. "_Isn't that where I caught his sword?_" she wondered, glancing at the miniscule cut on her hand and confirming her suspicions. "_So that's my blood… but what the hell is he doing?_" She decided that whatever Fumetsu's next was, it couldn't be good. She reached down and pulled her energy weapon from its holster and the device's chord that connected it to Yin and Yang hummed as the reworked top's expanded generator spun madly. Bringing the weapon to bear against the man, she saw that he had finished his circle and was starting on another pattern as the weapon in her hand began vibrating with increasing intensity. The enemy's leg managed to paint a single straight line with his own blood and the cracks in the device were glowing as it reached full capacity. The Hyuuga prodigy clamped down on the trigger and a concentrated blast of heat and light shot from the weapon and struck her opponent.

After a few seconds of waiting for the overheated energy device to cool off, she holstered it and strode towards the smoking body to witness the effects of her weapon. Upon reaching the corpse, she determined it to have multiple burns ranging from first to third degree along with total penetration at the point of impact- in this case, the neck. The enemy's head was laying several feet away in a pool of warm blood. "He's not getting up from that one," she stated as she knelt down and ruffled through the man's clothes for any kind of identification. She wasn't real hopeful since this man was obviously an assassin of some sort, so she was pleasantly surprised to find a necklace with a gold symbol attached. Her brow furrowed when the mark looked familiar and she pocketed the jewelry to begin moving the body when she froze.

"What was that?" a distant voice asked.

"It's coming from down there," another voice replied.

"_Shit,_" the blue-haired girl grimaced behind her mask. "_I gotta run. No time for this stuff. Damn!_" She cut off the wires running from the coil on her belt and took off as quietly as she could.

After a few moments, a band of four people approached Fumetsu's body and a masked man spoke. "Took us a while to find you."

"You're late, Dual," the disembodied head said as its eyes rolled toward the individual.

"My apologies," the ninja replied flatly, "We started from HQ when you reported in. You're quite a ways away."

"Whatever. Nina," the undying man addressed the sole female of the mysterious squad, "Patch me up."

As the medic woman obeyed, Dual struck up a brief conversation. "Did you follow orders and analyze abilities?"

"Correct. I used no techniques."

The mismatched eyed behind the visage glanced at the incomplete bloody seal on the floor. "How about that?"

"I figured the target would have an ace up their sleeve if need be." After a few minutes, Fumetsu's head was reattached to his body and he reached for his ratty hat. He placed it on his head and sheathed his cutlass. "Let's return to base."

----------------------

The next morning, both geniuses were exhausted from their overnight ordeal. The fighting had taken its toll on the evening and they hadn't slept as much as they would have liked. Of course, they did their absolute best not to show it so nobody noticed… almost.

Naruto was busy performing one of the many farces called missions with his team under the not-so-watchful eye of his jonin instructor. Kakashi preferred to spend more time reading his adult novels rather than mess with the chores the villagers put forward, but he was by no means detached from reality. While he read his restricted book, his uncovered eye flicked back and forth between his charges.

"_Sakura still hasn't made any real growth,_" he outlined everything in his mind before thinking about the specifics, "_She's got higher than average chakra control and a lot of book smarts, but that's about it. Still no adequate physical conditioning and nothing beyond Academy techniques. Why don't they teach anything more useful than that worthless clone technique? No one uses it…_" He broke himself from that particular train of thought and stuck to the issues at hand. "_Sasuke is… well, Sasuke. Real growth potential but a serious lack of the concept of teamwork. If you ask me, he's a time bomb ready to go off at any time._" He furrowed his eyes as he reached his final student. "_Naruto… he's got more gusto than anything else. He's got real potential, seeing as how he can pull of the Shadow Clone technique at such a young age. The only thing that worries me is teaching him anything that might accidentally break the seal on the fox._" He shook his head at the notion. "_Nah, couldn't be that much of an issue; the Forth's seal is top of the line. Still, something seems… different about the boy… he's loud as hell, but when the others leave him alone he gets this weird look in his eye…_"

As the perpetually tardy ninja pondered over the strange feeling his pupil exuded, Kurenai was acting on her suspicions a little more so. She had specifically requested fewer 'missions' from the Hokage in order to accentuate her subordinates' training, seeing as how she didn't see doing jobs even civilians didn't care to perform as being worthwhile. The old man was hesitant and she didn't really expect him to bow to her wishes based on a mere whim, but he surprised her and did it anyway. "_The Third must know something I don't,_" she concluded, "_He's quite adamant about genin performing as many missions as they can as soon as possible. Could he be as suspicious as I am?_" She broke from her internal monologue and focused on her young team.

She had laid a series of traps inside their training ground that could only be disabled through teamwork; the genin had to have each other's backs at all times in order to pass through the course unscathed. So far, the results were predictable for the most part. Kiba was loud and boisterous, often the first one to break from the rule and fall into an ambush. Shino stuck close to his teammates and spoke up whenever he felt his input was needed- that is, to say, very little. Hinata filled in the gaps wherever the boys could not venture.

But the Yuhi was beginning to notice minor tics in her female student. One such example was a near constant flinch in the shoulders as if she were about to raise her arms before deciding against it. As the jonin watched the Hyuuga closer, she would notice the girl's fingers and other extremities perform similarly as if about to pull something or start to reach for an object that was not there before halting. "_All that's nothing compared to this, though,_" she mused, glad that she designated the day for training rather than work. Watching the Byakugan user's eyes, she saw them glance back and forth ever so subtly. She knew that her bloodline was capable of locating most of her traps but, seeing as how the girl miraculously avoided those that were invisible to her advanced eyes, still managed to fall into a handful of ambushes. "_She saw those, I know she did!_" Waiting for her novice squad to complete the pitfall-laden exercise, she called the three over to discuss their performance.

She congratulated the trio on a job well done before laying out their mistakes and successes. A knot formed in her stomach when she realized that the shy girl's errors, when listed, were most numerous amongst the genin. Even Kiba managed to pull his smelly ass out of the fire…

After the lecture, she convened for lunch and pulled the Hyuuga to the side before she could wander off. When the others were out of earshot, she spoke. "Hinata," she started as sympathetically as possible, "I know you're trying hard, and nothing's more important than that, but is there something on your mind?"

"W-what?" the 'shy' girl retorted then peered down in defeat. "N-no, nothing…"

"Hinata, you're very strong, you just don't know it yet. I noticed that you seemed… more aware of your surroundings today but you didn't act on them, that's all."

"_Crap crap crap crap crap crap,_" her mind shuffled around on itself. "_I was careless; thinking too much on that dead guy. Crap!_" She then looked up and forced a few tears into her eyes to water them up a bit. " I-I'm sorry…"

"Nothing to be sorry about," the Yuhi responded while placing a gentle hand on the girl's head. "Come on, I'll have lunch with you."

"O-okay," she agreed quietly while groaning inwardly. She had been in a rush after her evening battle to get home and forgot to hand over the necklace to Shiori and Ichirou so they could begin investigating it. "_I was hoping to do that during lunch. Looks like I'll have to wait…_"

----------------------

That night brought about extensive research on the behalf of both geniuses. For Naruto, it was interrogating his young prisoner. He had spent much of the previous evening building a cell for her and filling it to the brim with traps to ensure that she couldn't escape.

He entered the separate room that he cut out of the stone overnight. The walls were bare uneven rock and the only passable surface for a floor was a small flat slab in the center of the cramped prison. The insides of the bars, ceiling, and floor were lined with chakra sensing seals; any escape attempts utilizing the body's natural energy would instantly be quelled by the painful marks. If by happenstance the girl managed to circumvent the seals, automated puppets were hidden behind the walls, ready to react against _any_ chakra source outside the cell.

The Uzumaki donned his secondary clothing and cracked mask before entering. His flawless security system sensed his unique signature and ignored him as he approached the bars and slid a small cheap tin tray of cold food under a designated slot. There were no doors to the jail; he had drugged the girl to keep her unconscious long enough to build the prison around her.

"Shia, was it?" he asked when the young girl stirred from her messy cot. She was almost incapable of movement, as her arms were bound tightly together behind her back from the shoulders down and her legs were in manacles with a chain only long enough for her to shuffle her feet. "I've got questions for you."

"W-where am I?" she inquired with beads of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm asking the questions here. Depending on your answers, your stay here will be more pleasant. Do you understand?"

"Why a-am I h-here?" The waterworks were beginning to flow.

Curse said nothing as the little girl curled into a ball on her cot and began sniffling. "_If she's not fakin' this, she's got some serious problems…_" He stood there for a few minutes and, when Shia showed no signs of stopping anytime soon, reached through the bars and set down a large cup of water with a straw. She now had everything she needed to survive for a few days.

He exited the hasty prison and began working on a new mask. This time he built a visage from the ground up rather than modifying a captured one. He began with a thin piece of wood that was carefully carved into the basic shape he wanted; that of kabuki mask with an open mouth. He figured as long as he could hide his unique birthmarks, revealing his mouth wouldn't be a problem. He was tired of going out of his way to avoid any techniques that would destroy his headwear. After a few hours of hammering on multiple layers of metal strips, he had achieved the desired look and integrity. Afterwards, he added mock teeth filled with poison gas around the mouth and painted the whole thing red so as to mask the mane of mock hair he wore to shield his own brilliant blonde hair from the world. He then added a layer of paper seals to the front, which he covered with an even thinner metal layer. The idea was to have a disposable outer visage that could conceal explosive tags and whatnot out in the open. It was brilliant in his opinion. Last but certainly not least were the mirrored glasses over the eye openings that hid his bright azure ocular lenses.

When he completed his new mask, he put his ear to the prison chamber's entrance and heard the steady breathing of a sleeping Shia. He shrugged and ascended his vertical tunnel into his room to catch some sleep. He was dead tired.

----------------------

Hinata was having a busy night of her own. She had to endure listening to her father's inane drabble about duty or something along those lines before she could sneak out to her secret lab. She decided to let Shiori and Ichirou off the hook about researching the symbol on the jewelry of her undying enemy and do it herself. Besides, she was looking forward to figuring it out on her own.

She had spent the last few hours going through every text on seals she had compiled and nothing matched. "_How weird,_" she thought as she leaned back in her chair and took a swig of water, "_I'm pretty certain that it's a technique; it looked like Fumetsu was drawing this same mark on the ground._" She turned her canteen up again and dove back into her encyclopedia.

She shelved all the documents before her and pulled out a history book on a whim. Whenever she came upon a problem whose solution existed but was not obvious, she found that searching in off-handed places usually gave her a new idea of where to look. As she flipped through the old text, she thought about what else the mark could be as she stumbled across a brief history of clans in the Fire Country. She stared absentmindedly at the book and, sure enough, a revelation hit her. "_Family Crests, maybe?_"

She began running through all the registered genealogical symbols in the known world and came up blank after an hour. "_That wasn't it… what else is there…? What else…?_" she wondered as she scanned her bookshelf and her eyes strayed to a large scroll on religions. "_Religious symbol?_"

She pulled the huge collection onto the floor and flipped it open. Inside was a complete accumulation of religious information along with their corresponding marks. After several minutes of scanning, she found what she was looking for; a circle with an imbedded triangle.

"Jashin," she read aloud to no one, "A belief in the deity known as Jashin whose principal commandment is indiscriminant slaughter…" She skipped over the details of the gruesome prayers of its followers to the additional notes at the bottom. "Those that follow this belief are known to be blessed with the ability to inflict harm done unto them upon others and immortality to all natural and unnatural death… oh, son of a bitch."

----------------------

Takaimi was having a so-so day. Her guitar was properly tuned, her glass bottle of whiskey was full and had friends, and she had recently obtained a pack of her favorite unfiltered cigarettes, a brand that was difficult to find as of late. While all these things were great, she had no news from her daughter. "_Ah, this sucks_," she whined inwardly, "_Least you think that damn kid could do is write back. Goddamnit, I might not be the best mom around, but I'm her senior! Throw me a fuckin' bone here…_"

"Commander Takaimi," a dull voice stated from the end of her chamber, "I'm here for further orders."

"Fumetsu," she replied while strumming her instrument, "You ain't goin' anywhere for now."

The Jashin follower cocked his head but otherwise did not betray his bewilderment.

"I'm sending in Dual's team. Teach 'em what you know."

"With all due respect commander, I believe…"

"What the fuck are you doin'?" she interrupted with annoyance in her gruff voice, "You disobeyin' me, undead fuckface?"

"No ma'am."

"Damn right. Dismissed." As Fumetsu turned to exit, she stated, "You know, Shia didn't return from her patrol last night."

The undying man nodded in affirmation.

"Dual's pretty pissed. It's all I can do to keep that freak from goin' vigilante on me."

The immortal assassin shuddered ever so slightly under his loose dull clothes. He knew full well that Takaimi's statement really meant that she threatened the masked man into submission. The female commander could easily kick any of her subordinates' asses, and he knew it. He said nothing as he removed himself from the smoke-choked room that reeked of hard liquor.

"Too bad too," she mentioned to the side as she strung a low chord, "Little kid reminds of her when she was young. Course then she didn't stutter…"

* * *

Yeah, have fun figuring stuff out. I know you're totally gonna (not) do it! 


	7. Vanishing Weirdos and Name Calling!

Urgh... tired. Got too excited with the story ideas and kept going (note to self: don't do it again...). Enjoy, ya'll.

Naruto don't belong to me. He belongs to some (probably) rich Japanese guy who's making a lot of headway in fsking the story up.

* * *

The next evening, Naruto was mildly excited as he packed for his newest mission. "Guess all that whining paid off," he murmured as he zipped up his bag and set it next to his door. Earlier in the day, after yet another chore of catching that damn cat, he raised hell in front of the Hokage about his dissatisfaction with the mundane work given to him. He didn't actually expect the old man to give in to his childish demand, but that mattered little now. He descended his hidden passage to his subterranean chamber to procure a few high-end weapons he had been saving for such an occasion when he spotted the door to the new dungeon he built. "Oh, yeah… I got a prisoner now…" he muttered under his breath as he thought about what to do with her. He could potentially be gone long enough for her to die of starvation…

He sealed the last of the items in the tattoos on his back and donned his new mask while pulling out a large tin tray containing several dozen emergency rations. He then walked over to the tank of water he kept around and hoisted it over his shoulder before kicking the jail's chamber door open. "Rise and shine!" he announced as he approached the seal-laden bars and set the food stores down. "How ya feelin'?"

Shia stirred from her cot. Her eyes were bloodshot, evidence that she had been crying hard for some time. "I-I'm fine," she replied nervously, "W-what is a-all that?"

"Food and water," he said nonchalantly. "Now, I've got a mission starting tomorrow and I could be gone for a while. This," he tapped the metal box of rations with his foot, "Should be enough for you to survive until then, assuming you don't scarf it all down in a day. Understand?"

The young girl nodded as she slowly rose to her feet and uncomfortably shuffled over to the bars. "Y-you're g-going to let me l-live?" she asked with a tinge of hope in her voice.

"As long as you're useful," he responded with all seriousness. "First off, is 'Shia' your real name or a codename?"

"I-it's my name."

"How old are you?"

"N-nine."

"_Geez,_" he thought, "_They're gettin' younger and younger._" He kept his mind to the task at hand. So far she was cooperative, but who knew how long that would last. "Who are you working for?"

She hesitated for a moment. "C-commander Takaimi."

"Who's that?"

"M-my commander…"

"Guess you aren't worth it," he stated abruptly as he turned on his heel and began to leave.

"Wait!" she called, frightened that her fate had been sealed. "W-what about t-the food?!"

He turned back to her when he reached the door and said, "You're going in circles now. If you wanna eat, you'll cooperate with me every step of the way."

"B-but I'm telling y-you the t-truth! T-that is who I-I take orders f-from!"

"Does 'commander Takaimi' take orders from someone higher up?"

"Y-yes, but I d-don't…"

"Who?"

I d-don't know," she sniffled as tears began to well up again in her eyes. "I've n-never met h-him…"

Naruto's eyes narrowed behind his crimson visage. "_So Takaimi's an intermediary? Interesting…_" he thought before continuing with the interrogation. "So this guy's orders are hers, right?"

"C-correct," she replied, fighting back the waterworks when her captor's tone became somewhat lighter.

"Do you know his name?"

She shook her head. "I f-followed my b-brother around. H-he knows his name…"

"You ever see this guy? Heard of a nickname or something?"

Her head shook again. "N-no, I n-never came into m-much contact w-with everyone e-else at the m-main base."

"Base? Where was that?"

"I d-don't know…" Her eyes began to well up again when she realized that she couldn't answer the genius's questions. "I-I always stuck w-with my older b-brother…"

The Uzumaki sighed then peered at her eyes and examined her general demeanor. "_I don't think she's lying,_" he concluded after a tense minute, "_She's seems… broken for some reason. Mental issues, I'm sure. Overdependence on her brother, maybe?_" He nodded lightly and strode up to the bars before grabbing the large tin tray and dumping its contents on the other side. He then propped the good-sized barrel of water against the cage, pulled a hose from the inside via the hole in its center, and dropped the hollow rubber tube on top of the scattered rations. "Turn around," he ordered when he finished the task.

"W-what?"

"Turn around," he repeated, "And lean against the bars."

She obeyed with nervousness pouring off her and she shivered with fright when she felt a new set of cold iron clamping over her wrists. She heard the clinging of metal on metal before the restraining bonds along her arms suddenly went slack and she could move said limbs. Pulling her arms over her head and bringing them back down again, she found the reason why: her captor had removed the old constraints and replaced them with manacles with a chain that allowed for limited mobility. It was a step up from the previous arrangement.

She turned around with surprise on her face. "W-what's t-this?"

"A reward," he answered simply before strolling to the chamber door. "You answered everything I wanted for now. Keep doing it and things'll be even more tolerable." With that, he closed the entrance off and the heavy locking bolts slid into place.

"T-thank you…" she murmured as she handled a food pack and returned to her messy cot.

-----------------------

At the Hokage tower, Sarutobi was busy with paperwork as usual. He puffed on his pipe as he leaned back to give his bending spine a rest when he felt a presence enter the room. "Ah, Kakashi," he stated as he blew a pristine stream of smoke, "What brings you here?"

"Pardon the intrusion, lord Hokage," the copy ninja began, "But I'm here regarding the mission you assigned me and my team."

"What about it?" He breathed in another mouthful from the burning tobacco.

"Is there another reason you assigned it besides getting Naruto to shut up?"

The old man's demeanor became serious as he understood what his subordinate was implying. "To a degree, yes. You told me that Naruto acts… unusual whenever left alone?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think there is a possibility that he was responsible for that strange presence I felt a while ago?"

"It _is_ a possibility, but I can't say for certain. All I know is this: he seems more focused when no one else is bothering him and he _did_ learn how to perform the Mass Shadow Clone technique all on his own. Considering his overall behavior, these small inconsistencies are extremely out of place."

"And I agree," Sarutobi responded, "Naturally, you are to keep your team out of trouble should any arise, but in the case that it does, watch him carefully."

"Ah," Kakashi stated as though he had forgotten something, "That's another thing."

"What?"

"About half the time I watch Naruto, he's aware of it."

"Explain."

"Whenever he's performing a chore I watch him from afar. More often than not, though, he'll glance at me the moment my eye hits him."

The Hokage sat back in his chair to take this new information in. "I see…"

"Outside of that, he seems to stiffen up a little whenever I'm watching him from the shadows."

"That _is_ news." The old man thought for a moment. "Alright, focus on Naruto during this upcoming mission and report back to me when you return."

"Understood."

"Dismissed."

When the copy shinobi departed from the room, Sarutobi stood from his chair and stood before the windows behind his desk. "Naruto," he muttered under his breath, "Is there something you're not telling us, my boy…?"

-----------------------

The next day, after the simple chores assigned to genin team eight were completed and the squad was dismissed, Shino approached his teacher with a concern weighing on his mind.

"Teacher Kurenai," he addressed the woman.

"Hm? Shino, what is it?" she returned, surprised that the boy was still around.

"I have been noticing that you seem to be watching Hinata a bit more closely than Kiba and I," he stated apathetically, "Is there a reason for you to do so?"

She frowned inwardly. The bug user was incredibly intuitive. "I'm just keeping an eye on her. You know how fragile she can be at times."

He nodded with silent understanding before speaking again. "When we passed your survival test, I planted a bug on each of you in case of an emergency."

"You did what?" she said apprehensively.

"I apologize for not asking your permission to do so, but my intentions were purely cautionary."

She sighed. "Right… well, where are you going with this?"

He continued with his flat tone. "The insect I planted on Hinata returned to me shortly after in a disoriented state. Upon examination, I determined that it had been exposed to a toxicant that is dangerous to my hive."

"I see," the Yuhi raised an eyebrow, "And…?"

"There are only a handful of substances that are capable of affecting my bugs in such a manner, and all of them are closely guarded secrets known only to my family and the Hokage. There is no viable reason that Hinata should know their chemical makeup."

Kurenai nodded at the new information. "I see. Thank you for telling me, Shino. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"May I inquire as to why you are watching her so closely?"

"I told you- she's very timid and shy. I want to be sure she doesn't loose all confidence in herself."

Shino nodded after a moment, a gesture that told the female jonin that he didn't believe her. Thankfully, he let it go and began towards his home.

"_Whew,_" she thought, "_He's certainly a lot smarter than he lets on. Now to find this damn bug and squish it!_"

-----------------------

Danzo, Homura, and Koharu sat patiently in one of the many underground chambers of the ROOT headquarters. The lights were quite dim, emanating from a handful of candles situated on a table at the center of the room. The trio of seasoned veterans was there in accordance with the 'request' of their mutual associate. The elite guards of the supposedly dead organization stood at perfect attention outside the door, ushering the chamber in absolute silence.

After several minutes, Homura voiced his building annoyance. "How much longer are we going to be made to wait?"

"Have patience," Koharu consoled, "He's never shown his face before; a few extra minutes is well worth the opportunity."

As another handful of minutes ticked by, the three suddenly sensed a presence in one of the corners. All heads turned to the absolute shadows to behold the newcomer.

"Gentlemen," a bored voice sounded from the darkness as its owner stepped into the muted light, "And Miss, welcome…"

"How did you get in here?" Danzo inquired. He knew for a fact that the only entrance was guarded by his top agents, and the hooded stranger emerged from a corner opposite the door.

The man wore a dark grey cloak that hid all his features save his face. His expression was flat and the hair that poked out from under the hood merged into a brown tangled mess. The only discernible weapon he carried was an elegant yet slightly rusted sword strapped to his side. The blade appeared foreign, as its design was straight and it appeared thicker than most katana.

"An arbitrary matter," the stranger replied.

"And you are…?" Koharu stated.

"I am a subordinate of your associate who wishes to be unnamed for the time being. You may call me Sten…"

-----------------------

Shiori and Ichirou were out on patrol in the extensive hive hidden beneath Konoha per their creator's wishes. Hinata was busy maximizing her energy weapon's efficiency and resiliency along with constructing some new weaponry that could be used against the Jashin follower.

The reassembled Hyuugas carefully made their way to the location of their mistress's previous battle in hopes of finding any evidence of the enemies' identities or affiliations. When they neared the scene, Ichirou suddenly stopped and signaled the female freak to do the same.

"What's up?" Shiori inquired when she saw her companion's camera eye flexing and refocusing.

"Company," he replied, his nervous facial twitch accompanying his voice. "Three heat signatures."

"Got it," she said as she knelt forward while simultaneously activating the multi-purpose device strapped to her back. The boxy machine had a wonderful variety of functions ranging from surveillance purposes to a massive self-destruct if need be. She reached back and unhooked a tube from a protruding disk then plugged it into the port behind her ear. The circular piece of metal then began to flux while reading the reverberations from the tunnel and eventually bringing the strangers' conversation in loud and clear inside her aural cavity. She hit the record button on the large machine then listened intently.

"Who threw these?" one of the men's voices rang in her inner ear. "They don't look like needles…"

"I don't think they are," another ninja answered, "See the smoke residue? I think this is shrapnel from a bomb."

"Then how the hell did we not hear it?" the first shinobi returned.

"Don't know, but judging from all the burns it looks like there were quite a few of them…"

"Hey," the third man interrupted, "Check this out." A shuffling of feet filled the airwaves before he spoke again. "It looks like another set of footprints."

"What kind of sandals are those?" the first man asked.

"If they're sandals at all, they're not from around here."

"Think this other person was with them?" the second ninja thought out loud.

"I doubt it," the third guy clarified, "I think they were combatants as well."

"How do you figure?"

"Our comrades' bodies had post-mortem burns and lacerations; some kind of fighting went on after they were killed."

"Gotchya." An awkward silence settled in. "Let's report this to Danzo. He'll be interested in this…"

Shiori cut the recording short and shut the device down with an explosive smile on her face. "We got a name!" she whispered excitedly to Ichirou. "Let's take this back to the Mistress!"

The reassembled Hyuuga male nodded in agreement and the freakish duo took off towards their headquarters.

-----------------------

Naruto was having a great time with his new mission. As he laid his head to his pillow that night, he did a quick recap of the day and his soul leapt for joy.

It turned out that the man he and his team was tasked to protect, Tazuna, had lied about the severity of his situation. He had applied for protection against mere bandits and run-of-the-mill thieves, but in actuality was being pursued by a wealthy crooked businessman and a band of powerful missing ninjas.

The Uzumaki was slightly disappointed when Kakashi caught the shinobi that dug his toxic claws into the blonde's hand before the closet genius could counter the enemy. The boy considered such an attack his specialty; let an opponent get close enough to injure him and believe he had the upper hand then strike him down with no hope of recovery. Naruto honestly didn't think about the enemy's weapon being poisoned, but it was inconsequential to him; he had an antidote for that particular contaminant in one of his seals.

He was mildly pissed off by Sasuke's childish taunt, although he tried not to let it get to him. "_The hell does he know?_" he reasoned as he tried to sleep and failed, "_Not every strategy involves flashy moves…_" As he urged himself away from his inward ranting, he found that he was quite excited by the notion that the sword-wielding ninja, Zabuza, was still alive and had an acquaintance talented enough to fool his own teacher, albeit temporarily.

When he lied still for a while longer, his body became no less tired. He listened carefully for his Uchiha teammate's steady breathing to be sure he was asleep. When he confirmed it, he silently leapt out the window and made his way into the nearby forest. "Here goes nothin'," he muttered as he put his hands together in the appropriate seals and brought a dozen copies of himself to life. He nodded to the Shadow Clones and they, fully understanding his intentions, transformed their appearances into that of his alter ego.

"Alright guys," he stated quietly as the clones paid close attention, "Zabuza's out of commission for about a week at most, so he's probably got a place to recuperate. He's also probably got friends other than those 'demon brothers'. Find him or his flunkies and kill 'em. If you have the time, look for any evidence of Gato's location. Got it?" When the identical masked copies nodded, he dismissed them and headed back to his room.

As he climbed into his comforter, he wondered how his skills would hold up against any of the missing ninja's subordinates. He knew that the clones couldn't take much of a hit, but whenever one 'died' all its memories, information, and experience came back to him. It was an invaluable trait that would serve him well. He finally felt at peace with his adrenaline and began to fall asleep with a tingling feeling as his chakra continued to keep the dozen copies alive.

-----------------------

The next few days brought on huge waves of excitement for Hinata. When her subordinates returned with a conversation giving a name, she was ecstatic; utterly overjoyed. As the days ticked on, she put her exploration of the tunnels on hold while she set up monitoring equipment on a record level for her. She didn't know the exact location of the ROOT headquarters at first, so she bugged damn near every inch of the Hokage tower until she could obtain some leads.

Her work was beginning to pay off, since by now she had noticed some discrepancies in the arrival and departure of several individuals, Danzo included. She saw that the old war hawk and several mysterious masked men that didn't seem to be ANBU members disappear completely in a certain area within the structure, so she was narrowing her search down with excellent results.

She arrived at her hidden chamber after the day's missions with her squad followed by the setup and relocation of equipment around her quarry. The moment the door was sealed behind her, she crashed onto the old couch she kept around whenever she felt the need to relax for a moment. As she let her mind ease into complacency, she thought about simpler things.

"_Shiori and Ichirou'll let me know when they see Danzo or those ROOT guys, so I should take it easy for now. I kinda wish I could monitor the tunnels like I am the tower, but I don't have nearly enough equipment to do something like that on such a grand scale._" She agonized mentally for a moment that she couldn't be in a thousand places at once then promptly let it go. "_On another note, what should I do about Kurenai? I can see the suspicion in her eyes, but I can't become an honest-to-God klutz! I'm already doing the best I can! Oh, what to do, what to do…_"

"Ah, Mistress!" Ichirou's voice called from his monitoring station. "You might want to see this!"

The blue-haired genius leapt to her feet and was standing behind the reassembled Hyuuga in less than a second, brimming with anticipation. She followed the man's outstretched arm to a monitor displaying a feed from one of the many hidden cameras within the Hokage building and furrowed her brow with mild concern.

"Who's that?" she asked aloud even though she knew no answer could be provided. She stared at two individuals discussing something onscreen. One was the familiar form of Danzo while the other was… extremely out of place by any standards. Through the graininess of the screen, she could somewhat make out the mystery man's demeanor.

The unusual man wore a simple light blue business suit and dark violet tie. He carried a briefcase, something only a civilian would do, and wore dark polished shoes. She squinted and determined that he appeared to be middle-aged with a short crew cut and a prominent forehead. She cocked her head at the strange appearance when the man suddenly turned his head and peered straight into the camera.

"He sees it!" she yelped. "Disable it! Cut off the connection!"

As the startled Ichirou moved at lightning speed to shut off the camera and render any traces back to the lab impossible, the screen suddenly changed into an up-close broadcast of the stranger. For the split second that his face was clear, Hinata noticed that a pair of dull blue-green eyes accompanied the apathy in his aging features. The monitor faded to black as the connection was finally cut.

The young Hyuuga genius let out a breath she didn't know she held and released her panicked iron grip from the table. She took several deep breaths to calm herself and issued a string of commands to her assembled underlings. "Ichirou, Shiori! Drop what you're doing and run a full surveillance system diagnostic! If you see anything that's not ours, cut it off! Full permission is granted! No one must find out we're here!"

"Yes, Mistress!" both subordinates responded as they carried out their creator's orders as quickly as they could.

"I'm going back home in case the shit hits the fan," she continued as she slipped into her 'shy girl' clothes and made for the door. "If anyone other than me comes in, activate the master self-destruct and get yourselves to the safe house!" She sprinted to a standalone console that had obvious importance and entered a series of codes before unlocking a blaring red switch cover, revealing the ominous crimson button that would assuredly burn anything in her secret chamber. "And make sure you guys are safe, alright?" she added with subdued softness.

"Yes, Mistress!" they affirmed simultaneously with wide eyes, their attention going everywhere at once. They noted that the young girl exited the lab and continued their checkup unimpeded for the remainder of the evening.

-----------------------

Naruto was getting a headache towards the end of the week. He had been 'training' nonstop with Sasuke on the tree climbing exercise. "_Gah, why do I have to waste time doing this…?_" he whined mentally before the logical part of his brain reminded him. "_Oh right… I'm supposed to be an idiot. Besides, if I disappeared with my clones, things would look bad for me. Other than that, I don't think Kakashi would teach us anything new even if we aced this little trial…_"

As the blonde ran up the tree for the millionth time and purposely botched his control, his newest batch of clones was steadily closing in on what he believed to be Zabuza's hideout. For the past week, the Shadow Clones had been searching diligently, eliminating large areas in their search for the missing ninja and his crew. The genius knew time was running out and this thought dominated the minds of his copies, thus causing them to continue their renewed exploration with extreme vigor.

When the Uzumaki aimed for the scarred tree for the millionth and one time, he brought his foot down and was suddenly aware of an intruding presence. He glanced to the side and saw a hooded figure looming in an intensely dark shadow. "_Screw this,_" he thought as he moved his arm to unseal his ninjato when he was halted by the sound of the Uchiha's voice.

"Hey, loser," the brooding boy droned, "What are you doing?"

"What?" he returned as he spun on his heel before glancing back. When he saw that the stranger was no longer there, he completed his movement by scratching the back of his head and laughing. "I was just thinking how frustrating this tree climbing thing is."

"Weirdo," Sasuke muttered before resuming his training.

"_Who was that?_" Naruto wondered, ignoring the prick's comment. "_More importantly, where did he go?_"

-----------------------

In a room unknown to any of the natives of Konoha, four silhouettes dwelled in its deep arcing shadows.

"Any news on our new guests?"

"Yes, sir," the hooded man replied. "Naruto Uzumaki is operating separately from an assigned mission in the Land of Waves. He seems to be searching for the missing ninja known as Zabuza Momochi."

"I see. And you?"

"I believe the other… individual to be a 'Hinata Hyuuga'," the stranger in the business suit explained with a slow, raspy voice that paused at awkward intervals. "She seems to possess a rather… extensive knowledge of technology."

"Good, good. Let's keep this from our mutual associates, shall we?"

The other three in the room acknowledged the order in their own way before exiting in their separate unique departures.

* * *

Who the hell are these people?! (Ahahahaha...! Chew on _that _for a while!)

Must... sleep... then... complete...mid-term... projects...


	8. Wave Country Massacre! Behind the Scenes

Apparently this site has decided to ban the use of dashes for dividers. Fuck. That leaves me high and dry.

What pisses me off even more is that, supposedly, using standard line dividers in Microsoft Word will work... but as I'm looking this over in the document editor, _none_ of my dividers are showing up! Wasting my damn time... (well, aside from writing this).

Anyways, I gotta change how I do things now. If the scene suddenly changes out of nowhere, there was probably a divider there that got cut and I missed it. Sorry 'bout that!

Usual: I don't own Naruto, just this kickass fic

* * *

"We've got company," a ninja with an aging headband emblazoned with the symbol of the hidden Mist village announced into his short wave radio. Hideaki was left in charge when Zabuza and the child, Haku, departed no more than half an hour ago. He had not anticipated any trouble, but these were unsure times. "I count three in sector eight-C, over."

"Another three in sector ten-A," Kaito's voice crackled over the tiny device.

"I got three more in section five-D," Osamu reported last.

"_Looks like they're headed for the hideout,_" the temporary head concluded. Each of the identical attackers were in areas directly north of their secluded base of operations, and the masked men's' routes would bring them right to the rogue shinobis' doorstep. He touched his finger to the radio's sender and issued a command. "Head back for the base and reinforce the perimeter. We're outnumbered and need to set up an ambush."

"Aw, c'mon," Osamu whined, "We can take 'em. They're shrimps…"

"Shut up and follow orders for once. Fall back _now_!"

Hideaki exited his cover as quietly as he could and rushed back to the elaborate hut within a minute. There wasn't much time to set up traps, but there was already a perimeter of tripwires, explosive tags, and primed kunai launchers. If the nine intruders could pass by all that unscathed, then the runaway Mist ninjas were in serious trouble. Kaito and Osamu arrived seconds later and took up defensive positions to lie in wait.

A handful of tense seconds passed; the ensuing silence deafening. The calm forest suddenly rumbled to life and the ground shook as an exploding mark was activated, scorching a small crater into the earth. The sound of swift footsteps was heard cascading from the conflagration before they were cut off by more explosions and the discernible noise of poisoned knives flying through the air and impacting soft targets.

"_Well hell,_" the leader thought, "_Maybe we don't have to do any fighting at all…_" His eyes suddenly went wide when his loud subordinate decided he was invincible and stood from his cover.

"Yeah!" Osamu yelled as he brandished his short sword above his head, "We got em…"

The husky man was interrupted by a large shuriken that burst through the dense smoke and struck him in the leg. He cursed as loud as his lungs could exhale as he doubled over in pain and attempted to extract the large blade from his tibia bone when the weapon suddenly glowed with a dozen sparks from explosive tags. Before the man could push his arm forward to free the massive throwing star, the metal exploded in a brilliant flash and showered the killzone with lumps of charcoaled flesh and bone.

"Shit!" Kaito reeled around to glance at the smokescreen formed by the perimeter's triggered defenses. "Were those all decoys?!"

"Idiot! Get down!"

The startled underling failed to obey before a volley of shuriken penetrated the choked battlefield and forced him to maneuver around them, batting any away that came dangerously near his flesh. After a heart-pounding five seconds, the barrage wasn't letting up and both men were beginning to worry. As the smoke settled, they instantly saw why.

Up in the trees sat six identical crimson-masked men, all flinging every manner of throwing weapons from unseen holsters on their upper arms. Hideaki grinned when he saw them kneeling precariously on the limbs of a single tree and began to run his hands through a series of seals. Upon completion, he planted them to the ground and a surge of chakra snaked through the loose soil and found their way into the roots of the targeted timber.

Said tree then appeared to melt as all its sap oozed out in a torrent and hardened to the intensity of steel due to the infused energy. None of the intruders could leap away in time and were caught by the impossibly sticky substance as the missing Mist shinobi reeled back then blew a jet of searing flames at them.

He smirked when he saw the bodies catch fire and boil away to nothing in a heartbeat before averting his gaze for the other three enemies. He heard several pops emanating from the burnt limbs and his eyes glanced back to find the opponents had disappeared into wisps of smoke.

"_Shadow Clones?!_" he realized with shock. No bodies were left in the hardened sap, so the real body was still around somewhere. His head shot back and forth in a rising panic to find the remaining opponents.

"Kaito!" he ordered, "Fall back! Hold 'em off in the base."

The man nodded and dashed from his cover towards the nearest entrance. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the remaining three opponents circling around to the opposite side of the hideout and he turned to inform his temporary leader.

"Captain!" he shouted, "They're over…" His voice suddenly cut out as a straight blade adorned by an illustrated dance of runes pierced his throat. He fell to his knees as his body became heavy and his vocal chords gurgled when they became flooded with blood and his consciousness slipped into darkness for the final time.

Hideaki witnessed the entire scene with surprise. He had also noticed the remaining enemies moving along the long way and was on the verge of scolding his subordinate for unnecessary speaking when a pair of the identical masked intruders shot out of the ground and killed Kaito. As soon as the underling's warm corpse crashed against the forest floor, one of the men launched the other across the rogue ninja's path and the sole survivor found himself face to face with a familiar weapon.

"Th-that's the demon brothers' gauntlet!" he stated loudly when his eyes locked onto the ringed chain that connected the masked pair. He moved his arms down to pull free his custom daggers when the opponents moved with speed that could rival a hurricane. The next instant found the appointed head bound tightly by the bladed chain, ready to be ripped to shreds at the drop of a hat.

"You the leader here?"

"How… why are there more of you?" he struggled to speak against the lethal binds, "How did you do that?" He received no verbal answer in reply, but the intruder closest to him pointed up, so he peered up as far as he could without severing an artery. "Holy shit…" he swore in amazement as a sixth masked man shimmered into view from nothing on top of the highest tree. "An overwatch…"

"You got anything on Gato?" the same enemy inquired as he tugged lightly on his heavy claw, cutting the blades ever so slightly into the defeated man's flesh.

Hideaki coughed as his air was restricted and he could feel warm blood trickling into the open air. "Y-yeah… he's got a dock just south of the Wave country's bridge where he runs a lotta drugs and stuff…" He was about to spill everything he knew when he spotted a pile of logs that was used for firewood several meters away. He began utilizing his chakra in preparation for a body switch…

Only to have his captors beat him to it and yank back on their chained gauntlets, slicing him to chunks before he could do anything.

"Anyone else in there?!" one of the clones shouted at the building to the trio that entered while the recently deceased man was apprehended.

"Nope," another copy answered, "This place is pretty bare! Nothing of any value in here!"

"Alright, disperse!"

The six clones puffed out of existence, transferring all their knowledge to the original.

* * *

Naruto stopped in his tracks as his copies' information was sent back to his mind. He was initially worried when half of his force was wiped away in one fell swoop, but there was nothing left to worry about anymore; Zabuza's hideout was effectively reduced to zilch.

He was rushing to the bridge to intercept said ninja at the moment. Not five minutes ago, he had dispatched the sub-par swordsmen sent to deal with Tazuna's daughter and grandson. Now that he was aware of one of the crooked businessman's bases of operation, he knew that he had another excellent opportunity to nip things in the bud.

He continued his dead run until he reached the shore. When the bridge came into view, he leapt down to the water and ran his hands through some seals for a technique that he was looking to using. His fingers completed the proper motions and twenty water clones bearing his alter ego's image rose up from the sea.

"Alright," he addressed the small army, "You know where to strike. Take out Gato's dock and anyone who resists. Understood?" He received twenty masked heads nodding in unison. "Good. Dismissed!"

As the clones charged down the shoreline to put distance between themselves and the bridge, the blonde himself continued toward the partially constructed bridge. As he neared, he noticed that Kakashi was occupied with Zabuza, Sakura was standing around doing nothing, and Sasuke was… standing between floating slabs of ice?

"_Oh, I gotta see this…_" he mused playfully as he charged for the bloodline technique.

* * *

While the original prodigy engaged the ice user, Naruto's water clones ran hell-bent across the deep water to the south in search of the criminal harbor. The copies were born from the imitation of the Momochi's aquatic clone, and thus were slightly more durable than shadow clones due to the larger amounts of chakra required.

After a solid ten minutes of searching, small shacks and ramshackle buildings began to emerge from the foliage opposite the Wave's shoreline. Sure enough, there were decent sized docks with several boats of varying bulk. Most were small two-person fishing boats, but there was one larger boat and an even larger barge, both of which were pulling away from the harbor.

"Which should we take?" one clone whispered to another as it noticed the vessels splitting up and sailing separate directions. Each sea-bound craft was loaded down with armed men; mercenaries hired by the wealthy Gato.

"See all those guards?" the other copy answered as it nodded towards the rounds of weapon-bearing men on casual patrols around the shoddy structures. "They probably get paid well…"

"And there's a lot of them," a third water clone added.

"Where's that barge going?" another Naruto asked, shifted his gaze between the two boats.

"Looks like towards the town. Probably to circle around and meet up with those other guys."

"Well, I think the original can handle at least one boatload…"

"And we don't know if that barge is really flanking anyone; it could be for the village…"

"Alright," the leading clone silenced the hushed discussions, "Five of you go for the barge and the rest hit the docks. Got it?"

Nineteen heads nodded.

"Good. Go." With that, twenty identical masked geniuses set their attacks in motion.

By the time the multiple Uzumakis agreed on a plan, the barge was rounding the shoreline further south. The five clones tasked with sinking the vessel gave chase and, upon nearing it, dispersed into the water and nearby foliage behind the sandy beach. The two prodigies underneath the waves swam for the hull and latched on while unsealing their custom ninjatos, the seals on the long straight swords capable of wreaking havoc on the basic elements of the metal surface.

Two of the three Narutos traveling through the trees leapt from the outstretched branches and landed on the crowded deck, steel spears swinging. The pair of water clones was immediately surrounded as they wildly thrust and parried the various weapons of the ill-trained mercenaries, inflicting nothing more serious than mere broken bones and deep lacerations.

As the duel masked men created chaos on the deck and promptly attracted the attention of every man on board, the third clone in hiding on the shore charged out onto the water's surface and smile when it saw the thugs armed with crossbows taking aim inwardly. It ran its hands through a series of seals that were, once again, copied from Zabuza himself. "_If he wasn't an enemy,_" it thought, "_I'd shake his hand and thank him._"

He completed the appropriate movements and chakra channeled into the water at his feet. The salty liquid began to churn violently and, within a heartbeat, became a raging, rotating torrent that was focused against the barge. "_The Water Explosion Technique, wasn't it?_"

The doomed ship was impacted head on by the massive surge of spinning water and the deck was rocked fiercely as its inhabitants either clung to the railings for dear life or flew to a watery grave. When the technique ran its course, the vessel was dangerously waterlogged but miraculously afloat. The mercenaries glanced around to find the masked men with the spears standing a good distance away and began frantically bailing the water out.

Underneath the flooded barge the clones glanced at each other, nodded, and then plunged their swords into the hull, penetrating the metal like butter. The seals glowed with extreme intensity as they broke down the elements of the steel into easily destructible materials, and the sea-bound copies anchored their feet to the hull with chakra and ran the length of the ship, slicing out portions that sealed the craft's fate.

They released themselves and broke through the surface to watch as the barge succumbed to the sea. The vast majority of the mercenaries clawed at the water as their heavy armor and weaponry weighed them down, and any of them who were capable of staying afloat were eventually sucked beneath the choppy waves as the sinking ship pulled them under its self-induced current.

"Looks like our work's done here," the clone that initiated the stolen technique stated before melting into the water and rejoining the sea, immediately followed by its comrades.

* * *

Gato's drug-running harbor fared no better. The guards were fairly lax when the docks and nearby shacks suddenly burst into flame. When droves of henchmen dashed towards the conflagration to put out the fires and save as much 'merchandise' as they could, knives and huge shuriken with attached paper tags flew from the adjacent forest, embedded themselves into the run-down structures, and exploded with unrelenting fury, consuming every man near the water.

The hired gangs then rushed to the scene to locate the intruders and were systematically mowed down by kunai being flung from underneath the water's surface. Seeing that their defenses were easily overrun, the remaining guards retreated into the large warehouse located the farthest inland where the spreading fire would not reach. They hunkered down in the cramped confines of the maze of equipment and crates, awaiting anyone to waltz through the singular door.

Lo and behold, their nervous patience paid off when a lone ninja strode in with a waving crimson mane, blood red mask, and an easy ten pounds of knives and shuriken tied off with exploding tags strapped to him. The non-shinobi immediately assumed this one man to be the sole source of their misfortune.

The water clone, however, knew different. His assignment was nothing more than intimidation; these men were not trained in the ninja arts. To them, a shinobi was an individual of legend, a fighting force superior to all others.

"You Gato's men?" the Uzumaki copy inquired nonchalantly.

Murmurs began to echo between the hired hands and the door behind Curse slammed shut and steel bolts slid into place. The shuffling of feet and poorly-worded taunts filled the air as the mercenaries circled the genius. As soon as most of the men wormed out of the woodwork, the clone spoke up again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He released his ninjato and fell into a deep stance, the steel strips screwed to the bottom of his wooden sandals clanging against the floor.

Four swordsmen charged him from all directions. The water-based copy lurched forward and lobbed a barrage of shuriken into the thug directly to his right then slashed his sword across his own body, forcing the other three to reel back. The first man to dodge leaned forward when Curse's weapon was clear of him and began to bring his own sword down…

But he was stopped and thrown to the ground by a powerful back kick, the force of the metal-topped sandal breaking his nose and caving in his eyes. He fell backwards, head first, to the floor and clutched at his eyes while wailing in agony when a sudden needle to the throat ended his misery.

The Naruto clone pulled himself up from the fresh body, retracting the needle as he rose, and tossed the bloody sliver into the eye of the swordsman behind him. The mercenary stopped as he dropped his weapon and clawed at his face and the crimson-masked genius swung his straight blade upwards, cleaving the enemy's head in two lengthwise. In the same motion, the clone brought his blade down on the final thug and killed him similarly. All this happened in the span of two and a half seconds; too slow for the prodigy's standards but necessary to set an example for the remaining hired hands.

Said gang members eyed each other nervously and came to a general consensus; charge in a bum rush. Surely the lone ninja couldn't handle all of them at once.

But the moment they reached striking distance the man melted into seawater and the walls on all sides exploded to reveal fourteen more identical masked men, all armed to the teeth. The split second that it took the mercenaries to register the newcomers was enough to give birth to doubt in their minds but not enough time to repent for their choice of actions.

The clones unleashed a solid wall of iron, steel, and paper against the stupefied enemies before leaping away. The moment afterward, the warehouse was engulfed in a fantastic display of fire and heat.

The copies landed in the nearby trees and scanned the destruction. The docks and their subsequent structures were either damaged beyond repair or razed to the ground. The multiple Curses nodded in understanding of their mission's completion and reverted back to their liquid form.

* * *

Naruto was on the verge of killing Haku, the boy whose bloodline allowed him to manipulate ice, when he felt a tinge in the back of his mind. All the memories of his water clones were coming back to him and he fought to hold back a grin.

"_Wow, they did really well,_" he mused, "_I outta use 'em more often…_"

He mentally shook the thoughts from his head to focus on the battle before him. He was, thankfully, able to refrain from utilizing any techniques that would shatter his projected persona, but his quest to remain anonymous in the world of geniuses caused him some serious injuries that could only be tended to by the demon fox. Other than that, he was in the clear.

The blonde recognized his enemy from the previous days and didn't feel any real urge to end his life, especially after hearing what he had to say. Haku, unlike a ninja, was overly kind and didn't have an ounce of bloodlust in his body. Even so, he was willing to forsake his own beliefs in order to receive the one thing he truly desired: being needed by someone.

"_Hell, if I knew that, I would have hired him myself,_" Naruto thought, "_But despite all that, we're enemies. I've gotta do it…_" He charged and stifled a sigh of relief when the ice user stopped him and dashed to save Zabuza from Kakashi's attack.

The undercover genius watched the entire scene unfold and added his two cents when Haku died before the former Mist ninja. He recognized the boatload of mercenaries as the hired thugs piled up on the end of the incomplete bridge and passively observed the Momochi taking Gato's life in a final act of revenge. When the enemy was mortally wounded and uttered his dying words, the blonde prodigy released tears that his false persona would shed but felt something akin to sympathy and respect for the deceased.

"_Misguided, yes,_" he concluded as he sniffled, "_But fine shinobi nonetheless…_"

* * *

Sorry for such a short chapter, but I really wanted to get the Wave country arc outta the way in one fell swoop before starting anything else.

Oh, if anything reads awkwardly (referring to the divider fuckups), let me know and I'll run to fix 'em.

Peace!


	9. Genius vs Genius vs Genius vs Enemies!

Whoo! Longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoy it!

usual disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, yadda yadda yadda. Now go!

* * *

The sun rose into the sky to announce another day in the ninja village, much to Hinata's dismay. She had pulled yet another all-nighter the previous evening, straining herself in her search for information on the strange suit-clad man who detected her camera. "_How can there be nothing on this guy?_" she wondered as she took an out of the way route to rendezvous with her novice squad. "_Seriously, there's a vacuum of data on him. No one except Danzo even knew the guy was there, and he sure as hell didn't look like a shinobi. What does that mean?_" Lost in her thoughts, she forgot that she wasn't in the catacombs beneath her feet and walked with her arms folded behind her head while her hands cradled the back of her skull. She let loose a yawn produced from forty-eight hours of hard-working sleeplessness, not worried that anyone saw her. The alley she was strolling down was deserted anyway… or at least as far as her weary mind could tell.

Kurenai hid in the shadows watching her student, relying on her full arsenal of stealth techniques to ensure that her blue-haired pupil wouldn't detect her. She only hoped that the girl didn't activate her bloodline and render all her efforts in vain. As she spied on her student, she was shocked to find her behaving… uncouthly. "_What's this? Hinata Hyuuga stretching and yawning in broad daylight? When did she pick this up?_" As she continued to tail the girl, she witnessed the prim and proper heiress perform unfamiliar acts such as lazily glancing around with glazed over lavender eyes, scratching herself wherever she felt an itch, and even picking her nose once before flinging the findings away. "_They're all small things, but she's never done any of this before. What happened to her?_"

The Yuhi followed the undercover genius for a while longer until she ran out of alleyways in which to reside. Deciding to take one last look at her charge before rushing off to the meeting point, she felt the impulse for her jaw to drop and resisted when the Hyuuga emerged from the final alley into a populated street… and became shy and withdrawn again.

"_Alright, something's up. This isn't right, Hinata's acting… un-Hinata-like when no one's around. Now how should I look into this?_" She blinked a few times and realized that moment was not an appropriate time for such musings. "_I'll figure it out later. If I'm late, she'll suspect something…_" She broke her overlapping techniques and took a swift route to the rendezvous location.

* * *

As genin team seven made their way back to Konoha, Naruto was busy plotting his next course of action as Curse. "_I should look into medical techniques,_" he pondered, having ordered a trio of clones to dig up Haku's body, drain all the remaining blood into a sterile container, and rebury the corpse the evening the ice user was housed in his final resting place. "_Course that stuff's not my strong point. As much as I hate to admit it, I'll bet Silence could pull a secret or two out of that bloodline as things stand right now…_"

He accidentally cracked a humble grin at the thought of his intelligent rival but caught himself in time to make his mouth explode into a smile and enthusiastically ask Sakura out on a date which she thankfully refused. In accordance with his well-known mask, he whined about her choice when Sasuke muttered his two cents and got the blonde engaged in another mental rant against the Uchiha.

"_That arrogant son of a bitch…_" he thought, barely checking the urge to knock the so-called 'genius' flat on his ass, "_Ever since he activated his Sharingan, he's been more of an asshole than ever._" He would have planned on acting on his dislike for the boy, except doing so could potentially jeopardize his cover. He had never seen the withdrawn preteen in a truly private place during the late evening hours, the only times the Uzumaki would even _think_ to consider venturing outdoors. "_Ah well, let him have his fun for a while. It sure as hell won't last…_"

The gates of his home village came into view above the tree line and he entered what he affectionately referred to as 'mechanical mode'; the mind-numbingly monotonous pattern of being a blonde, loudmouthed fool for the sake of the city's peace of mind. He went through the motions; reported with his team to the Hokage, ate lunch at Ichiraku's while bragging about how awesome he was to Ayame, trained for a few hours until dusk, and then headed home.

Of course, the day was only beginning when he stepped foot inside his crappy apartment. He immediately battened down the hatches, checking all his traps and alarms to be sure they held up during his absence and making sure not a soul was watching before he descended the hidden vertical passage. He entered his secret chamber and was pleased to find it as he left it. He strolled over to the small metal dump built into the farthest corner of the spacey room and gathered up a few panels of tin and iron. Casting a small fire-based technique, he heated the metal sheets' edges and promptly made a box with a simple hinged lid. As he unsealed the container with Haku's blood from one of the seals in his back, he performed a basic ice move to significantly cool down the new makeshift refrigerator before placing the plasma samples inside and locking it shut. "_I've gotta prepare some seals to keep this thing cold. Well, that or build a generator…_" He pondered the minor quandary for a moment and decided the generator would be more suitable for the task.

He returned to the miniature scrap yard and began picking through the random pieces of metal when a steel door caught the corner of his eye. His head turned to gaze at the secure passage and he remembered what it was for. "_Oh, yeah… I've got a prisoner now. I wonder if she's still alive?_"

The blonde genius strode up to the heavy door while donning his mask and unlocked the numerous bolts before swinging the hunk of steel inward. "You alive in there?!" he called with a casual underlying tone.

"Ah!" a pair of brown eyes shot over to him with a deer in the headlights look. "C-Curse! You're b-back!"

"I'll take that as a yes." He strolled up to the gates and glared down at her as she sat cross-legged on the rough stone floor. "Looks like you went through all those rations."

She said nothing, peering down as if ashamed. Her behavior really reminded him of the chronically shy Hyuuga, Hinata.

"I thought up some more questions while I was away. Now, you're gonna answer 'em, right?" Catching the slight nod of her head, he continued. "Were you ever contracted by a man named Gato?"

"W-who?" she looked up with genuine puzzlement across her stained features.

"_Strike that from the list._" He decided to give her his reasoning. "He's a businessman who hires rogue ninjas. What I really wanna know is if you are a missing ninja."

She returned a blank gaze at him before shaking her head with uncertainty. "I-I don't th-think so… commander T-Takaimi w-wouldn't take orders f-from someone w-weaker than her."

Curse's eyebrow raised behind the mirrored lenses of his red visage. "Someone stronger than your commander?"

Shia nodded.

"Lemme guess; the same person giving her orders is also the same guy you've never seen or heard of before."

Her head hung in defeat. "Y-y-yes."

The undercover genius sighed. "Alright then. What's your commander like?"

"Ah, w-well she's v-very crude but she's v-very nice t-to m-me…"

"How 'bout techniques, weaknesses, personality quirks?"

"Uh, er…" she stumbled against the rapid fire interrogation, "I-I've never s-seen her in c-combat, but sh-she does l-like to drink and s-smoke a lot..."

"That it?"

"Er… she s-swears a l-lot t-too…"

"_My God,_" Naruto mentally laid his head in his hand, "_She's obedient but she doesn't know squat! Wait… she could have had interrogation training. Could I be asking the wrong questions? Could she be fooling me entirely?_" He eyed her while he mused internally and decided to test her. He leaned towards the bars and slammed a palm against the metal rods. "Quit fucking around!" he shouted angrily, "Don't waste my damn time! If you're not gonna be useful I may as well walk out that door and never come back!"

The young girl reeled back in fright when he began yelling and tears welled up in her brown eyes. "B-b-b-but I-I'm n-not l-lying!" she pleaded with a particularly nasty stutter. She tried to stand and approach the bars but fell over due to the short chains around her legs. "I-I-I'm n-not l-l-lying!" she bawled, the waterworks beginning to flow at full capacity.

The Uzumaki wondered if she really was clueless. If she was, then who in their right mind would employ an underling that was so fragile? "Then why can't you answer half my questions?" he toned his voice down, "I've gotten very little useful information out of you so far. Why is that?"

She choked as her tears impeded speech and sputtered, "I-I-I'm j-just a f-f-front l-line s-s-s-soldier… I-I'm n-n-not told any-anything ou-outside my mis-missions…" She continued to weep heavily on the ground.

"_Ah damn…_" the blonde sighed. His instincts told him that she was honest to God ignorant of the important issues behind her leaders' command structure. His conscious was also tugging at him for placing her in such a panicked state for a fruitless reason. "C'mere," he ordered calmly as he knelt down.

"W-what?" she sniffled as the she fought hard to stifle the tears.

"Come over here," he repeated.

"W-w-why?" she continued, fear lining her voice, "Wh-what a-a-are y-you go-going to do t-to m-me?"

"Just come here," he said calmly, "Have I actually hurt you yet?"

Shia hesitated for a few moments as she attempted to calm herself and slowly brought herself to her feet. She shuffled over to her captor with resigned apprehension in her features and winced when he made a sudden movement when she approached him. Feeling the flesh on her ankles suddenly breathing again, she cracked her eyes open and peered down. "Wh-what a-are you d-doing?"

Curse said nothing as he pulled the shackles off her feet and tossed them outside the prison against the uneven rock wall. "Reward," he stated simply as he rose and glanced down to meet her gaze. "If your commander's 'nice' to you, then I might have a use for you yet." He backed off a few feet then turned on his heel to make for the heavy steel door. "I'll feed you later," he informed her as he proceeded to shut the heavy entrance and lock it.

Before the door closed, the imprisoned girl collected herself as best she could and yelled, "T-thank you!"

Naruto reinstated the final lock and turned back to stare at his metal dump. "What the hell am I doing?" he muttered before continuing his current project of building a small generator.

* * *

Hinata leaned back in her chair and let a profound yawn loose from her soft lips. She had been at this new endeavor for a week straight and only now was it beginning to show any results.

She decided after her brief 'encounter' with the stranger in the blue suit that she needed some new weaponry in her arsenal. She had determined that her next armaments would need to be highly explosive yet numerous, seeing as how she had a Jashin follower running loose in the underground hive in which she resided. Her first choice was to construct small fragile marbles that contained a highly unstable chemical substance that would explode if jarred, but that turned out to be too unpredictable for her tastes. She then tried injecting the volatile liquid into hollowed out needles, but the explosive yield was too pitiful for combat.

Her final solution was to strip away an outermost 'casing' from the needles, wrap exploding tags around them, then replace the sheared metal back over the slips of lethal paper for a shrapnel effect. She tested the first few prototypes with large degrees of success, but the actual process of merging the shinobi tools was insanely time consuming.

After constructing a laughably small amount of the explosive slivers by hand in a few days' time, she built a simple machine that could do it automatically. However, she had to reduce the device's speed in order to exponentially reduce the number of errors it made. While her machinations were doing better than her, it wasn't by much, so she built a dozen of the accursed machines to accomplish the job.

But now that production of the supercharged projectiles was in full swing, she could concentrate on their… delivery system. She had a handful of ideas ranging from upgrading her current equipment to creating new devices from the get-go. She took a seat at her desk and began working out a few schematics when she glanced over to find her concentrated energy weapon laying peacefully in its holster, ready for combat.

"_I don't know if that damn thing's brilliant or a piece of crap,_" she wondered. "_No matter how many times I 'improve' it, the insides still melt after two or three shots. It's so unreliable. And the power consumption! I'll bet if I hooked that thing up to the Konoha power grid I could cause a blackout…_" She chuckled at the last thought and filed it under the 'for a rainy day' experiments.

She continued working vigorously until she came up with two plans involving her new needles that she found the most feasible. Quickly scribbling down the math involved, she stood and made her way to her main workstation and began assembling the required parts.

"This is gonna be great!" she quietly exclaimed to herself with an unavoidable sense of victory rising in her stomach.

* * *

"Fumetsu!" a patrolman yelled as the undying man entered the chamber that reeked of cigarettes and booze, "Help us out here!"

The Jashin follower peered as a hefty number of his coworkers struggled to restrain Takaimi. The hapless men were fighting a losing battle.

"Lemme go!!" the fiery woman shouted at the top of her lungs. Her breath stank of alcohol and her voice was slurring pretty badly. "Damn faggots… you can't take me on!!"

"_Well_ _I'll be,_" the immortal mused with total apathy ruling his features. "_She's actually drunk. Wait…_" He paused in thought before voicing a valid question. "How did she become intoxicated?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" another guard shouted, "She drank too much!"

"I'm a goin' back home ta see my daughter!! Let go 'a me!!" the tough woman yelled as she elbowed a subordinate in the face and broke his nose.

"How much did she drink?" Fumetsu continued, undaunted by his inebriated commander's random threats and swearing. He knew full well that Takaimi, no matter how much she drank, _never_ fell under the influence.

"She emptied one of her twenty liter kegs in one go! Now help us out!"

"_Twenty liters? Of whiskey?!_" The normally impassive man was mildly surprised. He approached the mass of ninjas trying to overcome their powerful drunken commander to lend a hand. His assistance seemed to make a difference and the woman began to calm down as she was flattened against the ground under a dog pile.

"C'mon…" she whined as she began to fall asleep, "Jus' wanna see my lil' girl… damn fuckers… lemme go… assholes…" Her voice trailed off as her altered mindset settled into slumber.

* * *

The third Hokage was concerned to say the least. He was perched on the roof of the central tower in Konoha overseeing the village in the early moonlight. Earlier in the day, Kakashi gave his report on team seven's latest mission and the old man was mildly disturbed to hear about the fox's chakra leaking out at one point. A presence appearing behind him caught his attention and he turned to address the ANBU member kneeling before him.

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?" the prone ninja said.

"Tenzou," Sarutobi began, "I'm sure you are aware of a certain demon that resides in a living container?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. You are to work with Kakashi Hatake in secret concerning Naruto Uzumaki."

"Captain Kakashi?"

"Yes. This mission is of utmost priority, so you are to speak of it only with me or Kakashi. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

The aging shinobi nodded in approval. This particular masked man had… special talents when it came to chakra suppression. "Contact Kakashi for all the information you need. I already informed him of your assistance. Dismissed." With that, the ANBU man shimmered out of view and Sarutobi let out a weary sigh. "Naruto," he muttered, "I hope that seal's holding out. For all our sakes…"

* * *

It was a red letter day for Danzo. He was irritated, and that feeling did not occur often in his limited repertoire of emotions. It only reared its head when huge impediments to his goals came along, and now he was faced with such a situation.

Several weeks ago, he issued orders for his loyal ROOT ninjas to search and destroy what had been designated as the 'strongmen' that dwelled within the catacombs underneath the village. Since then, one by one, his followers were either disappearing or dying and he hadn't the faintest idea who was responsible.

"_It's a strange scenario,_" he mulled over the predicament, "_The ones that vanish do so without a trace. It's like they never existed at all._" He snorted at the irony of the conclusion; his shinobi didn't exist to begin with and they were truly becoming whispers in the wind. "_But the ones that turn up dead are horribly mutilated, and their wounds were inflicted by weapons that aren't in Konoha's records._" His thoughts were interrupted when he was approached by Koharu and Homura. The aging duo appeared equally anxious.

"Any news?" Koharu inquired.

"None as of yet. These strongmen are elusive."

"We have utilized our own ANBU forces to search for them," Homura informed, "Hopefully our combined forces will drive them out of hiding."

The war hawk eyed the elder man. "With all due respect, my forces are far more numerous than the troops that are loyal to the village rather than the Hokage."

"We understand that, but how successful has your 'superior' army been thus far?"

Danzo glared his retort. He wouldn't admit it, but the old man had a point. After a moment of silence, he changed the subject. "What if our forces make contact? ROOT was supposedly disbanded years ago."

"That won't be a problem," the aging woman consoled, "We've taken great pains to ensure that their search areas are different. But more importantly, what about those you have lost? Why are they dying?"

"If they don't disappear altogether, they are terminated using arms that have yet to be determined."

"Disappear?" Homura asked, "Unknown weaponry? Explain."

"The injuries inflicted on the retrieved corpses have been made by unconventional weaponry of which no registered shinobi of Konoha uses. The disappearances are simply that; they vanish without any evidence left behind."

The old man nodded his head. "Troubling…" he muttered.

"I took the liberty of analyzing the scarring on some of your deceased subordinates," the elderly woman stated, "I cross-checked them with the wounds from the first victims of the strongmen and they are noticeably different."

The war hawk's eye furrowed. "How so?"

"The wounds on the first corpses are swift, clean cuts and scarring indicative of traditional explosives or electrical burns. The more recent injuries are extremely jagged for the most part and the causes of death are widely varied. I think it's safe to assume we're dealing with at least two groups of strongmen."

"There are the disappearances to consider as well," Homura added as his sharp mind kicked into gear. "Assuming that the killings are the sole method of operations, we may be dealing with a third strongmen organization that prefers abduction."

As the aging ninjas discussed their meager findings, an ear listened in from a dark shadow in the corner.

"_They're not legends for nothing, I guess,_" the hooded individual within the darkness concluded apathetically. "_No matter. They are but pawns in this game…_"

* * *

The next evening, Curse was entertaining himself by weaving through the hive below his hometown. That night, he had found a succession of narrower passages that led progressively towards the surface and took the opportunity to see where they came out. After an hour of careful scurrying, he eventually came upon a long hallway that curved out of view with ladders leading to grates dotting the incredibly lengthy tunnel. Curious, he strode over to the nearest covering and, with a significant push, forced the steel hatch open.

He poked his masked head out to find that the entrance was buried a few feet under soft soil and surrounded by tall brush and long, thick flowing grass flowing amidst a forest. "_This… looks familiar,_" he mused as he scanned the environment. Deciding to take a risk, he exited the hole and ventured out into the woods. After a minute, the pattern of trees clicked in his mind. "_Oh, these are the training grounds. That's cool; a quick escape if I ever need it._"

Another minute passed as he trekked through the dense undergrowth, rapidly growing bored with the unveiled secret. He harbored thoughts of returning to the hidden tunnel when he heard the distinct sound of metal striking wood. Curiosity got the better of him and he silently made his way to the noise. After a few moments, he came across the source and his lips split into a grin.

"_Well look who's here,_" he thought as his mirrored gaze found Sasuke Uchiha practicing advanced kunai techniques… out in the open… _alone_. Naruto wondered if he should act on the sudden impulse to beat the so-called genius into a carpet stain when he unconsciously shifted his weight and his foot snapped a strained fallen branch.

"Who's there?!" the moody boy demanded as he spun on his heel and instinctively launched the knives in his hands at the source of the sudden noise. "I know you're there! Show yourself!"

Curse's mostly hidden features contorted into a wild smile and he stepped out from his poor cover, the metal loops of the kunai wrapped around his fingers. "Well, well. Look who we have here… Sasuke Uchiha!"

"How do you know my name?" the preteen demanded, staying cool and collected as he drew more bladed weapons to threaten the stranger. "Who are you?"

"Call me Curse. You know, I'm quite a big fan of yours." When the blonde saw the dark-haired boy's eyebrow raise in a questioning gesture, he chuckled and continued, "Oh yes, it's true. The last survivor of the infamous Uchiha massacre. Word has it that your Sharingan's been activated, too. I look forward to seeing your future performances."

"Is there a reason you're here?" Sasuke's guard never faltered.

"Well, yes and no." He began tapping his wood and metal sandal against the ground casually as he assumed a relaxed stance. "I was just passing by when I noticed you were here and decided to take a look."

"Why have I never seen you before? Who are you really?"

"Ah, I'm no one suspicious, really. It's just that I like hiding from this village because I'm too awesome for their comprehension."

The brooding preteen smirked unpleasantly. "Sounds like something that loser Naruto would say."

Said blonde liked where the conversation was going and decided to bait the 'genius' into a fight. "Naruto? Oh, that's right! Naruto Uzumaki, one of your teammates. Now _he's _got talent waiting to come out."

"Che. That loser? Are you kidding? He's hopeless. He'll only get in my way."

"I think you misunderstood me, _Uchiha_," he emphasized to get his insult across, "I was implying that he has more innate talent than you; I thought you'd get the idea from my choice of words."

"What?" He was starting to become irate.

"You heard me. I've seen your past performances; you're arrogant, self-centered, and clueless. You don't understand the underlying concepts of teamwork and you're a showboater. You think everyone else is below you just because you're an Uchiha."

"What do you know?" his voice was turning dark and his knuckles turned white from his tight grip. "What the hell do you know?"

"I know that in terms of a shinobi, you're worthless. All you got is a Sharingan, and you can't even use it the right way."

"Shut up!" He tossed a handful of kunai at the masked genius and moved his hands through the necessary seals for a fire technique. As the stranger easily dodged the knives, he reeled back to collect the chakra in his chest and lurched forward, spitting an enormous ball of flames out.

He smirked when he saw the mobile conflagration engulf the insulting man and he turned to leave.

"Where're you goin'?"

Sasuke shot around and peered at the opponent who should have been burnt to a crisp only to find him casually strolling towards him inside a diminishing swirling pillar of water. The Uchiha cursed under his breath and activate his bloodline.

"There we go!" Curse exclaimed when the boy's pupils changed colors and drew his preferred ninjato from its seal. "Now lemme see what you can do with those eyes!"

The moody preteen shot forward in a zigzag pattern, throwing out kunai and shuriken towards the enemy as he went. His superior sight easily saw the masked man's sword swivel and turn to easily bat away the weapons and he pulled out a special pair of throwing stars with attached wires. He then leapt back from his random charge and threw the projectiles with purpose. Using his Sharingan, he manipulated the shuriken through the wires and wrapped the undercover genius to a nearby post. He collected the metal strands in one hand and prepared to breath fire down the line when his body suddenly jolted back.

Naruto had calmly grasped the binding chords with two fingers and sent a surge of lightning chakra down them. He wasn't especially attuned to that element, but his dealings with Silence's near constant electrical attacks forced him to become proficient with it. "C'mon," he taunted as the lines went slack and he casually freed himself by walking forward, "Where's that great Uchiha talent everyone talks about?!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled as he blew another intense fireball at the approaching man. This time, however, he followed up the attack by unsheathing a pair of demon wind shuriken and lobbing them into the retreating flames. To his dismay, everything passed through unhindered, leaving behind a pile of smoking dirt as the large throwing stars imbedded themselves into a distant tree.

"Not even close," a voice stated in his ear, causing him to reel around, throwing out a backhand and a kick simultaneously behind him, only to have the limbs caught and a cold feeling wrap around them before encasing the remainder of his body. His movement was restricted by what he realized was an extensive chain attached to a sickle and he fell to the ground, unable to summon the chakra to substitute his body with something else.

"H-how did you do that?!" he shouted at the mirror-eyed crimson mask staring down at him. "I was watching you the whole time! You had no opportunities…!"

"Shut up and listen," Curse said solemnly as he pressed his straight weapon's blade to the Uchiha's neck while holding the curved short sword in his other hand. "You wanna know how I beat you? Remember when I was tapping my foot during our little conversation?" He took Sasuke's angry glare for a 'yes'. "I was forming earth clones with my chakra that way. When your second fireball hit me, I switched my body with the closest one and hit you from behind." He squatted to bring his face closer to the preteen sputtering with rage and continued as calmly as he could muster. "I fought a nine-year old with severe psychological problems not too long ago and had more problems then than with you. I haven't even broken a sweat in this little practice run."

"How dare you…!"

Naruto leaned in until his mask was two inches away from the defeated opponent's face. "Shut up, weakling. You're a damn fool if you think that Sharingan will solve all your problems. I don't even have any special bloodline and I moved, what, twenty feet? Until your arrogance subsides, you will always be a weak little boy. Remember this."

Sasuke grit his teeth so hard he threatened to crack them into pieces. As pissed as he was, this stranger that had beaten him so easily had rule of the floor. He merely stared daggers into the genius until the guy stood up.

"Oh, and one more thing," the winner addressed him, "If you tell anyone of this little midnight sparring or about our little talk, I _will_ kill you without hesitation."

"Load of crap," he muttered to the side.

"Don't be so quick to judge. I didn't even have time to sweat during the match. Remember that." With that, Curse disappeared in a puff of smoke, chain and all.

At that moment, the Uchiha got to his feet and made his way home. He tried to blow off everything his opponent said, but the enemy's words echoed in his mind. "_Weakling…_"

* * *

As Naruto backtracked through the extensive hive to return home, he felt a massive load of stress melting away. "_Oh yeah!_" he cheered mentally, "_I kicked his ass! That'll teach him!_" He was on cloud nine, so much so that as he re-entered the large vertical hub he didn't immediately notice the other presence in the huge chamber. He suddenly became aware of someone else when he saw movement approaching him from the corner of his hidden azure eyes. "Woah, shit!" he yelped in surprise as he slid into a low stance and released his favorite sword.

"Hang on," a pair of upturned palms was the first thing he saw as Silence spoke, "I'm not here to fight this time."

"Sure you're not," Curse replied sarcastically, eyeing his rival and noting the changes in her uniform. There was a rectangular slit crossing her blue mask's mouthpiece and the explosive stake launchers on her right arm looked different. She also wore some kind of wavy spring operated blade in a gauntlet on her left arm and she was missing that energy weapon that damn near burned a hole through him. "What do you want?"

"We've got visitors down here…"

"Tell me something I don't know. I've already been attacked." He conveniently left out that there were two parties involved and that he took a nine-year old girl prisoner.

"Same here, but there were two separate groups."

The blonde's eyes furrowed behind his crimson mask. "_Her too? This… could be big…_" He eased his guard and continued the conversation. "You got any news on them?"

Her covered head shook with a slight shrug. "A three man team of masked guys that looked like ANBU and a lone fighter."

"ANBU? How do you know that?"

"I don't think they are; I think they're part of ROOT."

"I see… ROOT's supposedly not around anymore."

"Yep. Where better to hide than down here?" she held her arms out to gesture at the cavernous room around them.

"You said a lone fighter came after them?"

"Yeah, a Jashin follower."

This caught Naruto off guard. He was surprised that his arch nemesis knew the identity of her secondary enemy as well as the fact that she was sharing information so freely with him. "Jashin, eh? You sure know a lot…"

"He had friends, too; I had to book it before they took his body away. I think these other guys are a threat to the village."

The Uzumaki was beginning to see the similarities in their separate situations. Silence was coming to the same conclusions as him. "And how do you figure that?"

Hinata was getting frustrated at the interrogation. She was trying to build a temporary alliance between them by sharing what she knew freely, and Curse was making it as difficult as he could. "The head of the ROOT organization is an old fart by the name of Danzo. He's an ancient warmonger who believes in protecting the village at any cost. If the Jashin guy was on another side, then there could be an enemy presence around here."

The red mane fitted over the blonde's head fluttered in the air as he nodded in agreement. "I think you're right. I was also attacked by a three man ROOT cell and a single ninja operating independently. I managed to capture the new enemy and am still in the process of interrogation."

"Really?" the Hyuuga replied with mild surprise in her voice, "What've you figured out so far?"

"Apparently their commander's name is Takaimi, and she's taking orders from a higher power." He sighed. "My prisoner's just a foot soldier and doesn't really know anything more than that."

Silence's head cocked to the side. "How about where their base is?"

"No good either. They didn't pay attention to their surroundings…"

"What? Your prisoner doesn't have a place to report back?"

Curse stood in silence as he processed what the female prodigy meant. "Oh my God!" he smacked his visage with his free hand, "I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

The girl laughed at her rival's foul-up. "Wow, you aren't very good at interrogation, are you?!"

"Sh-shut up!" he commanded, only earning more laughter from her.

"Ah…" she sighed as her jovialness subsided. "That's great. Anyway," she took on a good-natured friendly tone, "I propose that we join forces until we eliminate this threat." She held out a hand covered in electric film.

Naruto stared at the extended limb as if it were a giant worm. "_Hell, why not,_" he concluded as he put a miniscule amount of faith in his intelligent nemesis and pressed his hand into hers to complete the agreement. "But only until this shit blows over, agreed?"

The blue-haired preteen smiled behind her mask. "Wouldn't expect anything less." She broke the handshake and her head swiveled around when her activated Byakugan noticed something.

"Well, ain't that sweet?!" a condescending voice echoed from above. "Looks like I hit the jackpot!"

"Shit!" both geniuses swore in unison as they glanced upwards to find a man sitting atop the bridge over their heads. The enemy leapt down and landed smoothly a dozen meters away from them.

The ninja had dull slick crimson hair and eyes to match. His uniform consisted of a bulky light grey jacket with matching pants that were held on by an embroidered rope sloppily tied off to the side. As he turned towards his foes, the light bouncing off the walls shone off the smooth metal shin guards connected to his grey sandals as well as the steel gauntlets over his arms that possessed rows upon rows of increasingly larger jagged blades that ended in double-edged ragged sickles protruding from behind the wrists.

"So good to meet ya!" the frightening shinobi introduced himself with an unpleasant smile, "My codename is Giza, and I've been instructed to kill you."

* * *

Urgh... took a while.

Some bad news abounds: this last month will be busy as hell for me. I've got two final projects due in three weeks that will take ungodly amounts of time to complete simultaneously AND I have to move to a new apartment or house at the end beginning of May. In short, expect a dip in updates because I have to work my arse off. Sorry, but it's gotta be done...

Till then, catch ya'll later!


	10. Make Room for the Heads of Doom!

Took a coupl'a days to write. Been real busy. Still am. I just wanted to get this out while it was still fresh. Enjoy.

As usual, I don't own the Naruto franchise. Quite sad, considering all the cash involved.

* * *

Upon hearing the introductions, Naruto launched forward while drawing his ninjato and clashing with the enemy's jagged gauntlet blades. Giza thrust back with both arms to throw the Uzumaki off balance for a split second then rushed in for the kill. However, instead of imbedding the extended rough sickles into flesh, he collided with a crackling blur of circular motion.

While Curse recovered, Hinata released Yin and Yang and launched it into a curving motion that arced around her temporary ally and greeted the opponent. Having been repurposed again as a weapon, the massive top of death caught the ragged blades with its own curved knives and expended a large jolt of electricity into the rough metal.

Giza stood paralyzed for a moment, shaking slightly as the external power surged through his body when the blonde genius stepped forward and jammed his sword into the man's gut. The glyphs on the prodigy's blade shined with intense ferocity as their nature was reversed so the weapon, rather than merge with the basic elements, rejected the electricity, keeping their owner from harm. As the blue-haired girl's weapon fell to the ground and she recalled it wirelessly, Curse glanced at the impaled enemy's eyes and was shocked and disgusted all at once.

"What the hell…?" he muttered as he gazed at the man's face. The opponent's eyes were fluttering into the top of their sockets in ecstasy and his lips were curled into a smile of joyous satisfaction. Naruto was forced to pull away when the man's limbs suddenly came to life and swung for his head.

"Shit!" the Hyuuga swore, "Another freak!" She raised her right arm and her spike launchers hissed with smoke as they forcefully ejected their ammunition.

"Too late, girlie!" Giza taunted as he leapt over the edge of the suspended bridge, scratching the stone surface as he traveled. His gauntlets' blades took hold in the rock and kept him suspended as his weight succumbed to gravity. "Already heard about ya from Fumetsu!"

"The Jashin guy?!" she replied as her expended bolts stuck into a narrow pillar some ways away. A new set loaded and she took aim. "You know him?!"

"Hell yeah!" he shouted back as he planted his feet on the underside of the suspended stone, locked them to the rock with chakra, and then pulled his weapons free. "I work with him!" He somehow flipped himself back on top of the landing, temporarily ignoring the laws of physics as he did so.

His recovery was instantly met with a crimson mask and matching mane charging for him. Giza caught Curse's straight sword as it came down for his head and bent forward, aiming his other bladed arm to swipe across the blonde's abdomen. He grinned widely in anticipation for blood when his moving limb suddenly stopped. He eyed the disobedient appendage and found it being held back by a pristine, spiraling staff of metal. Following the steel pole, he glanced up to find a clone of Curse ready to crash down onto his head.

The man smirked as he slid his arm up to block the boy's sword and slashed the incoming genius copy with the tip of the extended jagged scythe. The clone instantly melted into mud and smothered him, hindering his movement as it stuck to the ground like glue.

Naruto stepped back in time to avoid his earth clone's transition to a sticky substance and felt Silence move in when he halted. The girl threw her left arm out in a sideswipe and the mechanical gauntlet strapped to the limb shot out an exotic, wavelike blade that contained needles held in place by tiny grooves. The weapon jammed into the hardening super-dirt and, with a flick of Hinata's wrist, retracted into its casing. The female genius leapt back immediately afterwards and was closely followed by her counterpart who noticed that the needles from the new toy were now stuck into their opponent. A moment later, the tiny slivers exploded in a spectacular fireball.

"That was stupid!" the Uzumaki berated his temporary rival. "That technique had him secured!"

"Shut up!" she shouted back, "That killed him!"

"Think again!" the hostile stranger announced as he burst from the smoke and slashed for the blue-haired girl's face, catching the secured mechanized weapon that had freed him as it moved to parry the blow. "Thanks for the blast! That stuff was hard!" He threw his free hand out to intercept Naruto's sword as the boy lent a hand to the female prodigy.

The blonde tapped his foot against the ground and two more earth clones rose up from the stone behind the enemy. As soon as they were properly formed, they unsealed the chained gauntlets the boy had copied from the demon brothers and charged for the opponent. When he became aware of their presence and turned his head with a mad smile to find them, one copy leapt into the air and twirled in the air before touching down on the suspended bridge. The clone's actions were successful in trapping Giza who was now bound by a coiling bladed chain. The two geniuses leapt back as the earth clones yanked back on their gauntlets to slice the man apart.

However, their arms only moved a sum total of three inches before stopping. The surprised copies glanced back to find their captive chuckling to himself while trembling in ecstasy. Before they could finish the job, the chain wrapped around the man corroded and fell to pieces. Stumbling, the Curse copies unsealed their dual broadswords and charged the man, only to melt into mud when he flung his arms at them and spattered blood on their faces.

"What the hell did he do?" the Uzumaki whispered to the Hyuuga.

"I don't know," she answered in a hushed tone. "Some kind of weird technique."

"Come on, come on!" Giza called as he ran his jagged blades' edges across his injuries and covered them with his blood. As the plasma oozed onto the weapons and started smoking, his clothing around the open wounds began to drip as they melted away. "There's enough pain to go around for everyone!"

"He's insane," the blonde stated mutely to his temporary partner.

She nodded in agreement and nudged herself closer to her rival's ear. "I think I've got an idea…" As she whispered into his ear, the crazed man took the opportunity to rush forward with his arms akimbo, gooey blood spraying to the sides as they caught the air in his swift movement.

"Sounds good," Naruto affirmed the instant before leaping off to one side while Silence dodged the opposite direction. The blonde put his fingers into a familiar seal and half a dozen shadow clones puffed into existence. "_Can't use this like I usually do,_" he thought, "_She'll know exactly who I am if I do…_"

The copies unsealed various weapons and charged the bleeding enemy who confronted them by swinging his arms wildly and tossing droplets of blood on them. Five of the clones were sprayed by the crimson liquid and their ensuing death created a miniature smokescreen. The remaining copy burst through the smoke and jabbed a steel spear into the man.

The original Curse smirked when he barely saw the action through the scattering dust and frowned when he felt the final clone's memories flood into his skull. He moved his hands to the seals on his upper arms to initiate a barrage of throwing weapons when the smoke cleared and he found Giza still standing where he was impaled, eyes fluttering into the back of his head and lips curling into a perverse smile as he slowly pulled the edged staff from his abdomen.

Before the blade of the spear could clear the flesh, however, Hinata moved behind the man and aimed her stake launchers point blank at his kidneys; a lethal blow. Exhaust erupted from the magnetized tubes and the explosive rods flew forward…

And missed. The mad ninja twisted out of the way in time to receive no more than a graze in his deteriorating clothing and used his momentum to swing his left arm back and catch the Hyuuga's mechanized blade as it came up in defense. A few drops of blood transferred from the jagged blades to the blue-haired genius's gauntlet and the girl immediately felt her arm heat up ever so slightly.

Naruto jumped in from the opposite direction and jammed a pair of short swords through the bloody shinobi's ribs, thoroughly piercing the lungs. The enemy faltered when the pain coursed through his body and the blonde leapt back with blades in hand when his ally did the same. He carefully circled the sputtering opponent with his eyes locked on the dying man and rejoined Silence.

"Well," he commented, "Looks like we didn't need to go that far…"

"Shut up," she berated him, "It was a good plan. We just improvised well."

"Fine, fine…" He was about to reseal his slim blades when he realized they suddenly felt much lighter. Glancing at them, he instinctively dropped them and the handles clattered against the ground. "What the hell?!"

"What?!" Silence yelled back in concern, hearing the surprise in Curse's voice. She peered at the swords and immediately understood why.

The dual short swords' blades were covered in the enemy's thick blood and severely deteriorated to the point that they appeared as rusty rotted wood and had fallen away at the hilt. Realization struck the prodigy girl's mind and she moved her blade's gauntlet to her mask and found the tiny droplets of blood from the transfer bubbling into the hard steel, smoking as it dissolved into the thick metal and leaving behind decent-sized divots. "His blood's acid!" she proclaimed.

"Oh," the Uzumaki responded simply. "That explains a lot…" Indeed it did; everything from the clones dying without effort to why Giza's weapons were so jagged became crystal clear.

A cough emanating from Giza brought them back to reality as their gazes shot towards the crazed man. The enemy stood to his feet, coughed a trickle of blood, and smiled maniacally. "Well done! Excellent! The pain was superb! Let's do it again!"

"That should have killed you!" Naruto shouted, "Why aren't you dead?!"

"Simple," his smile never dropped, "It's a little trick that exists in my blood. No one else can do it, and because it melts everything no one can analyze it! Ain't it grand?!"

"Who are you, exactly?" Silence questioned. The guy seemed to be rather talkative at the moment, so maybe he would drop some information.

"I already told ya," he tapped his toes against the slippery stone floor as his hand reached for a tiny vial hidden in his coiled belt. "I'm Giza." He upturned the glass tube and threw it to the side.

"Who do you work for?" she continued, wondering about what he just drank.

His smirk was ever present. "Who do I work for?" he repeated to himself, "Ya know, that's a relative question. I guess in the end I work for that bastard…"

"Who's that?" Curse inquired, picking up on his ally's ploy.

"But I hate that asshole's guts," he ignored the blonde. He held up his right hand and parted his thumb and index finger by an inch. "I actually got this close to killing the fucker once, too. Then I got transferred here…"

"You tried to kill who? Takaimi?" The boy's question earned a curious glance from the genius girl.

"Commander Takaimi?" he looked genuinely surprised then chuckled, "Not even, but she tried to kill him too. Hell, I think all of us did…"

"All of us?" the Hyuuga resumed the impromptu interrogation.

"What, that Shia brat didn't tell ya?"

Hinata glared at her temporary ally, frustrated that he held back information when she divulged her own. Her stare went unnoticed.

"Guess not. She's pretty useless anyway, so why don't I tell ya?!" He held his bloody arms akimbo in a grand gesture. "Every one of us in the advance recon is a criminal from our village. Each and every person I work with has killed our weaker comrades to become stronger, even Takaimi! Hell, the only reason our so-called leader got rid of us was because he feared us. If we combine our strengths, we could easily kill him, so he made sure we couldn't!"

A moment of silence wisped by before the female prodigy spoke up again. "Why do you want to kill your leader?"

"Simple!" He curled his hands into fists and held them against his face to hide his maniacal grin. "I joined for revenge! That bastard started killing my entire family for our blood's secret and I offered my services in place for their lives, but he killed the rest anyway! And when he comes here himself," he lowered his arms to reveal his upper teeth biting his lower lip and drawing blood in ecstatic excitement, "We'll all have our chance again!"

"Who is you leader? Maybe we can help…"

An insane laugh drowned out her question. "This is our vengeance, not yours! We're murderers and killers, and it's nothing short of a miracle that we aren't butchering each other!"

"Answer the question," Naruto commanded calmly, "Who is your leader?"

The madman's smile returned. "It'd be too easy to tell you for free. You gotta pay a toll for that one!" With that, he charged hell bound for the prodigies.

"Screw it!" the Hyuuga shouted as she moved to put distance between them. "Curse, take his head off!"

"Got it!" As the boy stepped back he threw his left arm forward and pumped chakra into the appendage's rings. The glyphs in the smooth metal shined and a slew of bladed yo-yos flew from the finger adornments toward Giza. The spinning buzz saws dug into the bleeding man's flesh and the madman laughed hard as they tore apart tissue and muscle.

"Almost!" he announced as his acidic blood began to corrode the lethal toys and they fell apart. "Here's another little trick!" the opponent announced as he grasped the wires connected to the disintegrating playthings and a sudden trail of blood began spiraling along the metal line with a life of its own.

"The hell?!" the blonde cursed as he cut off the connection before the liquid plasma could reach him. He resealed his sword, replaced it with a demon windmill shuriken covered in explosive tags, and lobbed the massive throwing star at the man.

The crazed man's blood pooled from one of his numerous wounds to his jagged blades and suddenly burst out in an imitation of said ragged instruments. The blood weapons easily extended six feet from their rough bases and swung solidly in the air as their owner slammed one knee to the ground and used his left 'extension' to melt the shuriken before it could reach him. The surviving slabs of metal from the airborne weapon flew out in every direction and one of the chunks imbedded into Giza's shoulder. This only elicited a chuckle and shiver of satisfaction as the insane ninja reveled in the extraordinary endorphin release.

Hinata took the prone shinobi's pause to retaliate with Yin and Yang. The electrified weapon spun wildly toward the opponent and, remotely operated by the genius girl, flew through the air due to the pins on the bottom surface and spun into the man's side. The Hyuuga decided to swallow the loss and activate the self-destruct sequence of her prized machine, but the enemy grasped one of the numerous curved blades and yanked the device out of his flesh. A sudden cavalcade of blood spiraled from the wound and saturated the metal surface before he reeled back and forcefully returned it with a mighty toss.

Yin and Yang carried a spin from the throw and ejected dissolving blood everywhere along its trajectory. The female prodigy attempted to control her machine's actions, but the acidic fluid had fully corroded the sensitive internal electronics, leaving behind nothing but an airborne husk of melting metal. In a last ditch effort, she disarmed the explosive function of her sharpened rods and fired the stakes when the smoking cylinder came within point blank range. The dead shell was thrown back as violently as was its owner and merely threw a spatter of dangerous fluid at Silence in return. She immediately swore and frantically whipped her outer jacked off to throw it away; its thick film incapable of diluting the acidic plasma before it could reach her skin.

"Let's share the pain!" Giza shouted as he downed another vial of the dark liquid hidden in his belt and more blood coursed through his veins. He ran at the blonde genius and began a dance of wide swipes with his corrosive fluid swords. To make matters worse, the corrosive fluid spattered and dripped from the liquid blades, burning Naruto everywhere they touched him.

"Son of a…!" Curse cut himself off as he dove forward while releasing kunai from the seals on his arms and buried them in the enemy's chest; one knife in a lung and the other in the heart. Unfortunately, there was no victory to be had as a gusher of blood splashed on his mask and body.

"Curse!" Silence called as she leapt up behind the opponent to redirect the man's attention. Her ploy succeeded and the bleeding ninja broke his gaze from her rival and swung an arm towards her. She tried to step on the jagged gauntlet and failed, planting her modified sandal on the blood blade instead. For a moment, her intelligent mind was surprised to find the acidic weapon mostly hard. "_Must be able to solidify it,_" she thought in an instant, "_That explains why he won't immediately bleed out from a fatal wound._" The next moment, she arced her left arm around, exotic blade released and aimed at the bloody shinobi's neck. The man ducked, but her actions allowed her ally to escape.

As the Uzumaki staggered frantically away, he immediately threw the outer layer of his mask away before the acidic liquid could melt through, silently thankful that he had the foresight to add the extra protection. But his gratitude was short lived when the thick fluid burned through the rest of his clothing and began searing into his skin. He screamed and shouted against the pain as his hands clawed at the open wounds that would not stop deepening. To further his agony, the fox's chakra kicked in for his patented rapid healing but didn't keep up with the slowly diluting blood, leaving the boy's flesh searing, healing, and burning all over again in a never-ending cycle.

Hinata fired an explosive rod through the man's lungs and moved away, quickly ditching her footwear when she felt the heat of their dissolution touching the bottoms of her feet. She glanced at the enemy and saw him acting to yank the stake out before it exploded. Noting that he cleared it from his chest the moment before it went off in a hail of shrapnel, the Hyuuga knew that she had bought some time, however small. She slid next to the writhing blonde and her medical instincts kicked in.

As she began running her hands over the boiling flesh of the boy's body, she resisted the urge to flip his crimson mask up and sneak a peek at his face. Focusing on the task before her, her lavender eyes darted back and forth between her rival and their enemy. Time was running out and she knew it. The option of hoisting the boy over her shoulder and running entered her mind, but before she could act on it the blonde genius sat up, flesh still boiling and healing itself for whatever strange reason. "_Is that a medical technique?_" she wondered, "_Or something else?_"

Curse gathered what was left of his willpower and dashed for the source of his slowly subsiding pain. He unsealed his strengthened broadswords and, upon reaching his gleefully awaiting enemy, dug the long curved blades into Giza's upper arms. He then released the now melting weapons and pushed forward, ignoring the acidic blood jabbing into his sides via semi-liquid plasma swords and jammed his thumbs into the ninja's eyes while cradling his head tightly in his searing hands.

"Yes, yes yes!!" the madman shouted in ecstasy as the foreign fingers buried themselves in his sockets. A variable explosion of blood erupted from all his wounds and wrapped around his nearby enemy wherever possible, practically burning the boy away. The insane shinobi wondered why his enemy didn't collapse from shock, but the pure pleasure of his pain distracted him from thinking too deeply on it.

In truth, Naruto wished he was dead. Almost every surface of his body was smoking and burning away as he was drenched with blood. Thankfully, his mask received a minute amount of the crimson acid, leaving nothing more than a few small holes that wouldn't betray any of his identifiable features. He screamed against the amazing agony as he dipped into the fox's chakra to rapidly heal his constantly reopening wounds. Soon enough, a feeling of numbness covered him as his nerves weren't regenerating swiftly enough to register the scorching heat and he pressed his deteriorated thumbs further until the crazed opponent went limp with a wide smile.

Curse released the man and both combatants dropped to the ground. The blonde genius willed his arms to pull his body away before his fingers could feel the stone beneath him and Giza chuckled hard as a trembling hand weakly moved to extract another vial from his belt.

The Hyuuga stepped in and promptly sliced the defeated man's moving hand off and, before her exotic weapon could dissolve, quickly amputated the other limb.

"Damn," the prone ninja snickered as claws of blood formed in place of his hands and he continued his blind quest for the life-giving vial.

Hinata, with the remnants of her dissolving blade, cut the embroidered belt off and pulled it out of reach. When the enemy reached for it, she tossed it over the side of the bridge and glared daggers at the ninja. She didn't even bother to check up on her ally; no genius, no matter how intelligent or talented, could recover from that amount of acid. She loaded an exploding rod from her cache and aimed for the man's forehead.

"Looks like ya got me," he said as his smile began to fade with the intense pain.

Silence said nothing. Her temper was so far gone that she wondered why she didn't just kill the man.

"Price paid, Silence!" he announced. "So ya know, I'm just a patrol. I got nothin' on commander Takaimi. She could kick my ass any day of the week…"

"Who is your leader?" the girl asked apathetically, remembering why she didn't outright execute him.

He coughed as control over his blood began to slip. "Now that's no fun. He'll be here in a short while." He feebly moved his jagged smoking gauntlets to his neck. "You'll know when you see him." With the last of his strength, he slashed so deeply that his head rolled off and joined the belt at the bottom of the long vertical shaft.

Silence regarded the warm corpse for a moment before glancing back at Curse. At that moment, she felt intense regret and sadness at never even knowing the fellow genius's name. Sorrow weighed upon her as she slowly strode towards her ally's body; the only person she ever had any true respect for was dead, leaving no hope for her. She felt tears tugging at her pale eyes but held them back as she approached the prodigy's body and knelt down to lift his crimson mask so she would at least part with the knowledge of his identity. Her fingers cupped the bottom of the mask and she jolted back in fright when a smoking hand shot over and grasped her own, halting her movement.

"I'm not dead yet," the blonde genius muttered as he tried to sit up. During Giza's final words the fox's healing chakra got a handle on the searing blood and neutralized it. All that was left was to heal the remaining horrific wounds. "You ain't takin' a peek now…"

Hinata rose to her feet, tears of joy streaming from her eyes and a smile as wide as her face behind her dull azure mask. "You gotta show me that trick," she said apathetically, a feat in and of itself due to the overflow of emotion within her.

In truth, Naruto was equally grateful to be alive, even if it was by the hands of the fox that made his life miserable. He was more than content to live another day and happy to have an ally who wouldn't run at the first inkling of fatal danger. Straining his muscles, he pulled himself to his feet and stretched painfully as muscle and flesh reformed over his gruesome burns. "Thanks for the backup, Silence."

"No problem…" Her head shot around as her Byakugan detected chakra signatures approaching their position… a _lot_ of them. "We gotta get going," she said in a hushed whisper, "I think he called for backup before he died."

"Are you kidding me?" the blonde whined as he popped his neck.

"No. They're coming in from all the upper and lower levels."

"Well, damn!" he exclaimed quietly as he started rushing his movements and preparing to take off. "Then I'll catch ya later!"

She nodded. "Yeah. Later."

With hasty goodbyes exchanged, the geniuses parted for their separate ways to avoid being caught by the small army bearing down on their position.

* * *

The next day Naruto stumbled through the streets to his genin squad. He was aggravated by the mundane chores assigned that day but couldn't complain; he was still sore from the previous evening's events. He felt a constant tingling on his skin that felt like a bad sunburn even though he was technically unharmed by that point. He had also incurred the loss of the seals on his arms due to the marks' ink evaporating upon contact with the acidic blood. "_Damnit, now I've gotta do it all over again…_"

He also noticed a significant change in the Uchiha's attitude. The so-called 'genius' seemed unusually agitated, and the blonde couldn't be happier. "_Finally, he realizes he's not the only hotshot out there._"

His day took a turn for the odd when he encountered ninjas from the Sand village. "_Oh yeah,_" he remembered, "_The Chunin exams are up again, aren't they? I wonder if Kakashi thinks we're ready for them…_" He glanced at his team. "_Yeah, right. Our teamwork sucks too much. Oh well, not the time to worry about it anyway._"

He wasn't particularly impressed with the fan-wielding girl or the puppet user, but he was surprised to find the third shinobi to be a demon container like himself. He didn't know which beast the boy housed, but the fox's comments echoing throughout his mind the moment he laid eyes on him confirmed another demon's existence. "_Wow, he sure turned out different. Could I have become like that?_"

As the day went on, it turned out that team seven _was_, in fact, nominated for the promotion tests. Personally, the Uzumaki didn't think any of his squadmates would pass, if not for lack of talent or teamwork then of the absence of interest; his own focus far more centered upon solving the mystery of unknown enemies lurking beneath Konoha.

When the trio was dismissed, he immediately headed home to tattoo on more seals and replace all the weaponry he had lost.

* * *

Hinata was thoroughly apathetic to her team's wishes to be selected for the Chunin exams, but her shy girl persona would buckle under the boys' demands, so she let it slide. Honestly, she thought it was insanely counterproductive when compared to the hidden threat under the village, but she ultimately decided that she wouldn't be able to sway the situation either way no matter how much time she spent underground. It was all about identifying and eliminating the person in charge, this 'Takaimi'.

"_But then what?_" she wondered as she strode toward her secret lab, "_Giza said that Takaimi's not the top rung on the ladder, so who's above her? And what did he mean by 'he'll be here soon enough'?_" Sadly, no amount of deducting could solve her questions with the given information. She would have to dig deeper and, after encountering the blood user, she knew she needed help.

She continued her normal evasive pattern until she knew anyone who might be trailing her would have lost her before entering the abandoned warehouse that sat above her prized hidden chamber.

* * *

Kakashi and his undercover partner, Tenzou, were keeping a close watch on the Uzumaki boy. The ANBU member suffered the dual tasks of assisting the famous copy ninja while also patrolling Konoha's perimeter during the exams, so his attention was somewhat split, but he could still see where the Hatake could not.

"Anything so far?" the one-eyed shinobi inquired without looking up from his adult novel.

"Nothing dangerous," the masked man replied simply, "But Naruto acts as if he were stiff."

"You noticed it too?"

He nodded. A few awkward seconds passed and Tenzou felt the need to break the numbing silence. "Kakashi, is my presence here really necessary? It doesn't seem that my assistance is…"

"As much as I might agree with you," the copy ninja interrupted, "You're here on the Hokage's orders. Besides, if the seal really _is_ weakening, then your skills will definitely be needed."

"…Right."

"Just keep watching him with me."

As the two elite shinobi exchanged idle small talk, Kurenai was conducting her own private investigation. She wasn't surprised that Hinata seemed nervous about entering the Chunin exams yet succumbed to the boys' wishes, but the girl's reaction seemed… off. It was as if something was occupying her mind and she merely recited words to appease any comment thrown her way. "_Couple that with her unusual behavior a few days ago and I've got… well, I don't really know…_" She tried to tail the shy genin after dismissing the rookie squad but, strangely, failed the moment she began. "_I don't think she went home, but where else would she go? And why couldn't I even sense her presence? It's like she disappeared._"

She leaned back against a wall in the warm late afternoon sun and mulled all the circumstantial evidence over in her head. "_Is she acting?_" she wondered, "_And if she is, why?_" The Yuhi continued to ponder the flimsy explanation as she made her way home. It had been a long day and her head was beginning to ache.

* * *

Takaimi sat on her uncomfortable chair in a lax position as she upturned a bottle of whiskey to her lips. When the last drop of the intoxicant drained into her throat, she tossed the heavy glass container to the side, shattering it into a thousand pieces against the stone floor. A moment passed before the gruff woman heard her chamber door swing open.

"That's a bad habit," Fumetsu commented blandly, "You could save those bottles for more."

"You tellin' me what to do, freak?" she shot back calmly while flipping him off. "Don't tell me how to live. What're you here for?"

"Giza's body has been recovered."

"So the blood freak lost, eh?" She couldn't sound less interested. "Oh well, didn't like him anyway."

"Also, Dual requests an audience…" No sooner had the Jashin follower's words left his lips than said ninja stormed into the room followed by his silent team.

"Commander Takaimi!" he shouted, "Let me take out those bastards! Let me be the one to kill…"

She shot a glare so intense that hell froze over momentarily. "Watch your tone, shit face," she said coolly, keeping her normally fiery temper in check so as to not instinctively murder her subordinate. "You'll be put on the case soon enough."

"Why are we waiting?" he calmed his attitude, but not completely. "If we head out now, we're sure to catch them…"

Takaimi rose from her seat and, in a burst of motion, slammed a steel-plated boot into the dual-colored mask of her underling. The disrespectful ninja flew into the open wooden door and smashed it to splinters. Before he could catch his breath, the female commandant had him by the collar and was breathing down his neck with eyes staring certain death at his hidden face.

"Listen, double fucker!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, "You might have been hot shit back in that asshole's village, but you're nothing here!! That's why all of us are here; to get us outta the way!! Do you get me, double fucker?!"

"Yes ma'am," he coughed. He didn't have enough air in his lungs to properly voice a thorough apology.

The infuriated shinobi released her iron grip but still glared at him from mere inches away. "You already know the reason why I haven't killed you yet, and it ain't because you're not immortal like this shitter," she pointed to Fumetsu who didn't appear offended whatsoever. She went back to her hard chair, sat down, and lit a cigarette. After taking a long puff and exhaling a pristine stream of smoke she said, "Now get the fuck outta here and wait for orders."

Dual swiftly and silently obeyed, closely followed by his squad after they regarded their commander with impassive stares, or the rough equivalent given their… varied personalities. When the four were gone, Fumetsu strode toward the exit to join them when he was stopped by his leader.

"Fumetsu," she stated as she lit a second cigarette and uncorked another bottle of whiskey, "Fix my door." She took a swig of alcohol and glanced numbly at the man. "_Please_," she added with emphasis to convey the underlying threat. As the immortal proceeded to retrieve the scattered wooden pieces, Takaimi lifted the glass container to her lips for another mouthful when an image of her daughter flashed through her mind. "_I'll get ya outta there,_" she thought as she guzzled the strong alcohol, "_Just trust your ol' bitchy mom on this one…_"

* * *

Like I said, I've still got TONS of work left to do, so I'll probably be giving fanfiction a rest for at _least_ until the beginning of next month. Sorry to put you guys on edge, but I wanna pass my classes.

Till then, later.


	11. Chunin Exams are for Pathetic Genin!

Yay! Dashes are supported again! So glad I can stop wasting time trying to find break points.

I typed this up in my break time. I still have a crap-ton more work to do, though. Also, I may have found a place to live! I'm gonna check it out tomorrow (I'm excited), so I'm keepin' my fingers crossed.

When I read over this chapter, I realized that, even though it's not horrifically long, everything became severely complicated. Of course, everything will be explained in time, but let's see how close you guys and your theories come to the truth (some of your predictions are frighteningly accurate, by the way).

As usual, I don't own Naruto. And I wouldn't want to at this point (just kill Sasuke and get it over with!!)

* * *

That night, Naruto descended his concealed passage to his hidden chamber as he did most other evenings. After checking all of his extensive security measures to ensure their functioning status, he settled into the corner surrounded by mirrors and began the tedious task of reapplying the storage seals on the back of his arms. He was frustrated that he had to do this a second time, mostly because it was a trying feat to keep the insignificant wounds created by the needle open long enough to properly insert the ink for a working seal. This night in particular, he cursed loudly on more than one occasion when his flesh healed thanks to the fox's chakra and he had to start all over again. But as with everything, time was all he needed and he eventually completed the marks. After that, he stood up and strode over to his weapons lockers and began the arduous motions of replacing the armaments he had lost.

It was during this process when he realized something odd about his new seals. He could clearly make out the lines and curves of the marks for the most part, but there were a few gaps where the ink was missing. "What the…?" he mumbled to himself as he activated the seemingly incomplete seals only to find that they worked just fine. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the ink appeared upon contact with his chakra when he went to activate the seal. "I can't believe it," he murmured in mild awe when he came to his conclusion, "The ink's invisible in certain places…" A wide grin worked onto his facial features; if he could reproduce this anomaly and perfect it, he could cover his entire body with all manners of seals and not have to worry about hiding them.

As his mind began to flutter with this new concept, he suddenly remembered that Shia might be willing to talk about her 'associates'. He donned his crimson mask and strode into the cramped prison with confidence.

"Hey, Shia…" he began to yell but tapered off when he found the young girl to be asleep. He strolled up to the bars and wondered how she could snooze while leaned against the cold iron rods of the holding cell. He waited a few minutes and, deciding that frightening her would be counterproductive, kneeled down and jabbed her lightly in the shoulder.

"Huh?" the young brown-haired girl's eyes opened tiredly as she swiveled her head around to find the person who awoke her. She blinked a few times to clear the sleep from her auburn eyes and yelped in surprise when she saw her captor mere inches away. "C-curse!" she cried while instinctively scooting back a few feet.

"Morning," he greeted nonchalantly. "I need a few more questions answered."

She nodded in understanding, already adopting that guilty look she always seemed to cling onto.

"Yesterday I fought some guy named Giza. You know him?"

"G-Giza?" she repeated as she nodded again, "Y-yes. He w-was very scary…"

"Right. Are there any others like him?"

"L-like him? No, I… I don't think so… t-there's nobody else with b-blood like his…"

"How about any other bloodlines? Any of those?"

"Bloodlines?" She eyed him quizzically. "What are those?"

Curse hung his head and sighed. "_Figures,_" he thought. After another second he lifted his masked face and decided to pursue a new line of questioning. "Alright, how about your headquarters? Where did you report back?"

"Ah… um…" she stumbled over her words, "W-well… I know where it i-is, but I d-don't know the dir-directions." The young ninja exuded nervousness as she tried to defend her position. "B-but if you give me a m-map or something I c-could draw it o-out for you…"

"You know where it is but not the directions?" the disguised blonde repeated blandly. "How the hell does _that_ work?"

"Ah, well…" the genius's question flustered her, "I j-just kind of know w-where it is." She smiled shyly to drive home her confession.

"Fine," he assented after considering her offer for a moment. He stood up and walked out of the makeshift prison, shutting the heavy metal door behind him.

Shia waited in the dim light and rocked back and forth nervously and she wondered what was taking the masked man so long after a few minutes passed. "_Why is he so nice?_" she asked herself, staring into space. "_He doesn't act like an enemy…_"

The second voice in her head decided to join the internal monologue. "_It's an act! He's not really that kind. Why would anyone be so caring for a prisoner?_"

"_B-but he gives me things when I a-answer his questions…_"

"_That's part of the ruse!_" the negative personality shot back, "_Once he figures out that you've told him everything you know, he'll kill you for sure. Maybe even worse…_"

"_N-no!_" she stuttered inwardly, "_Curse isn't like that! He s-said that he has a use for me a-alive…_"

"_Of course he does. It's hard to rape a corpse; they don't fight back…_"

The young disturbed girl began to break into tears at her alter ego's suggestion. "_W-why would y-you say that?!_" her mental stuttering began to intensify, "_H-he j-just wants t-to get to c-c-commander T-Takaimi…_"

"_Sure he does,_" the harsh voice replied, "_But the second he does, do you think he'll keep you around for something other than being his plaything? You need to trust me more; have I ever let you down?_"

"_J-just shut u-up,_" she defied her second self through a volley of tears, "_I-I don't want y-you a-around anymore._"

The dissenting voice said nothing for a moment. "_That's too bad; we're one and the same. You think you can deny me and my wisdom for long?_"

Shia was about to respond to the negative side of her mind when the door opened and her captor emerged with a folded parchment. Without a word, the masked prodigy slid the map through the bars and dropped a pen through after it. The disturbed girl opened the guide and began searching for the point of her capture when the genius's voice interrupted her.

"Something wrong?" Naruto slapped himself mentally the moment those words left his mouth. He was curious as to why his prisoner had broken down into tears in such a short period of time without any prompting on his part.

"N-no," she sniffled, forced a smile, and lied, "I-I just miss my b-brother…" She turned her attention back to the map before her and continued marking it up. She eventually found the points she was searching for and began describing the locations she knew of to her captor. "Th-this is the outer perimeter," she said as she ran the pen along an incomplete section of the subterranean maze, "This is w-where the living quarters are, and t-this," she tapped the writing utensil on the sturdy paper, "Is where the c-command center is. I d-don't know too much a-about it because I've only b-been there a few t-times, so…" she tapered off, hoping the masked man understood what she meant.

The Uzumaki nodded and retracted the map and pen before striding towards the door again. This time, however, he merely leaned out of the prison, grabbed something located next to the entrance, and returned. He slid a tray through the slot designated for food and pulled the aluminum foil off to reveal a large meal- a steaming _hot_ meal.

Shia's eyes instantly lit up in response to the warm food and she instinctively made way for it. Without thinking, she dug into the cuts of beef without a word of thanks and suddenly remembered how rude it was. "I-I'm s-s-sorry!" she cried, almost dropping the meat to the floor in her panic, "Th-th-thank you s-so m-much!" She bowed her head as deeply as she could without splitting her skull against the rocky floor and clasped her loosely chained hands together above her head.

Naruto merely nodded and replied, "No worries. Enjoy." He strode to the exit and shut the secured door behind him.

As the young girl dug in heartily, she couldn't help but revel in her minor victory against her alternative self. "_See?_" she flaunted inwardly, "_He's not cruel at all._"

Her alter ego made no effort to respond, but Shia could feel the ensuing silence acknowledging defeat… for now.

--

Hinata yawned for the umpteenth time that night. She and her assembled subordinates had spent the entire evening reconstructing all the battle equipment she had lost in the battle with Giza. The Hyuuga never realized how much work went into her various little gadgets and machines until she had to rebuild all of them from scratch at the same time.

As Shiori and Ichirou welded the armor plating on the last of her weapons, the budding genius crashed on her couch and shut her weary eyes. "_What a day,_" she whined mentally as she ran through everything in her head. "_Why did the Chunin exams have to come along now? The timing couldn't be worse…_" Her lavender eyes blinked and she sat up in revelation. "_Wait a second! Giza said the top leader would be here 'soon enough'… could he have meant the exams?_" She stayed silent and glared at the floor blankly as she thought. "_A lot of powerful and influential people come into the villages wherever the exams are held, even the leaders of the participants' villages. What if this leader guy is targeting the feudal lords and nobles using the exams as cover?_" Her brow furrowed as she remembered all the cautionary measures during this sensitive event. "_Of course, security is heightened around the village around this time, but he's got that private army underground. Maybe that's it; those guys are for reconnaissance and scouting out all the gaps in security._"

The prodigy resumed her habit of intensely staring into nothing while in deep thought. "_As much as I'd love to kick those foreign genins' asses, I think I'd better keep out of the main attractions. I'll let Kiba and Shino do what they want; I'll hold back so I won't have to waste time dealing with this farce of an exam._" She leaned back into the cozy piece of furniture, comfortable with her resolve to stay behind the scenes. "I wonder what Curse will do?" she murmured to herself.

--

In a darkened room far beneath the surface of Konoha and hidden from the prying eyes of its inhabitants, a quartet of figures resided within the shadows cast from the sole source of dim light.

"So," the silhouette standing farthest into the darkness began, "What have you to report about our _other_ associates?"

The thin man in the blue suit adjusted his tie and answered with a slurred voice that paused at awkward intervals. "It appears our initial… appraisal… of Sasuke Uchiha was misleading. Apparently, one of our outside… clients has expressed an interest in acquiring the boy."

The hooded man, Sten, spoke up. "I thought they were after the Uzumaki boy?"

"Yes, him as well…"

"Very good, very good," the men's shadowed leader's hands clapped politely. "Please tell them we are more than happy to offer our assistance… for a price."

"Yes…" With that, the man with the raspy voice phased out the room.

"I shall continue to monitor the merchandise," Sten stated apathetically as he moved towards the deep shadows in the corner, "To ensure they aren't damaged." He disappeared from the isolated chamber upon reaching the absolute darkness.

The head of the unknown organization turned to the remaining occupant. "I trust your subordinates are willing as always to withhold the secrets of our enterprise?"

The man nodded silently in acknowledgment.

"Excellent. Please keep up the good work."

--

The next day brought the first section of the Chunin exams with the written test. Naturally, the budding prodigies of Konoha couldn't let such a simple test of wits slide due to their pride; it would be insulting to allow such a lame test conquer them.

Afterwards, the intelligent duo was mildly excited to hear about the survival portion of the examination. Naruto, never one to let an above average opponent slip by, eyed the remaining candidates for anyone worth his time under the guise of a loud moron who didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. After his multiple outbreaks, he gauged the crowd's varying reactions.

"_Looks like that Suna team's got some serious players,_" he mused silently as he carried on like the village idiot he portrayed, "_But those three Grass ninjas…_" he eyed said trio, "_Act pretty secretive. I'll bet their teamwork's better than those Suna guys; that Gaara does a pretty good job of scaring his teammates._"

As the second instructor, Anko Mitarashi, explained the rules of the next test, Hinata also scanned the assembled shinobi. She was itching for a good fight but disappointed by the lack of viable choices. Her pale eyes eventually rested on the same squad as her blue-eyed counterpart: the three Grass ninjas. "_That guy… or girl… looks like the brains of that outfit. I'll bet those three fit the bill._" As she held back an excited smirk, she realized that something was… off. She gazed at the menacing forest before her and swore that she felt something- or someone- already lurking in there. "_Those Grass guys may have to wait,_" she thought, "_There might be something bigger waiting for me._"

The Uzumaki also noticed the unusual atmosphere surrounding the dark forest. "_Giza and Shia made it sound like there're a lot of guys in their unit. Could some be hiding in there?_"

After the teams signed the waiver to their lives they took their separate ways to the scattered entrances. After several minutes of waiting, the survival test began.

--

Kakashi sighed as he read his adult novel. "_I kinda wish I could keep an eye on Naruto, but I'm sure he'll be fine._" He became aware of a familiar presence and glanced to the side to find his assigned partner. "Yo, Tenzou. Off duty?"

"For the moment," the ANBU member replied, "I came to affirm our next course of action regarding Naruto."

"Ah, well, nothing much we can do about it right now," the copycat ninja responded, "We'll just keep an eye on him after the exams are finished. Who knows; maybe he'll do something out of the ordinary and attract some attention?"

"That's what I'm worried about. What if the seal holding the fox…"

"It won't break," the Hatake interrupted, "The Fourth was a master of seals; this one will hold." He lowered his book as he explored that frightening possibility, "Even if it does eventually fail, it won't be for a while. We've got plenty of time to worry about it later."

"I see." The masked man said nothing but his tone betrayed his unease.

"How are your rounds these days?" the one-eyed man inquired, eager to change the subject.

"They're tolerable. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as the foreign shinobi are concerned."

"Coming and going as usual?"

Tenzou nodded. "Yes, all those expelled have already vacated the village."

"How about the nobles?" Kakashi carried the casual conversation. "They still sending their servants and bodyguards in advance to prepare for their arrivals?"

"Yes," the ANBU ninja recalled how the rich aristocrats made damn sure their life of luxury was assured by the time they actually arrived a month later. "Although there are quite a few civilians this time around…"

"Servants?"

"And personal guards. I wonder why they believe their own security measures are necessary in a shinobi village…"

"Nobles are nobles," the infamous specialist spoke his simple words of wisdom, "They think the world revolves around them."

"True. Well, I have to get going now."

"Alright," he buried his nose in his erotic novel again, "See you around." With goodbyes voiced, Tenzou shimmered away to resume his exhaustive security rounds.

--

"Commander Takaimi," Fumetsu addressed his superior as he entered her chamber. "Our forces have successfully replaced all the nobles' servants and infiltrated Konoha. Also, Sonin and his squad have successfully infiltrated practice arena forty-four…"

"That 'Forest of Death' place?" the foul-mouthed woman clarified between swigs of liquor. If she hadn't been in a perpetually bad mood, she would have laughed at such a ridiculous name.

"Yes," the Jashin follower continued unabated, "And their secure communication line has been set up."

"Yay," she cheered without a shred of enthusiasm. "Now the party begins."

"Pardon?" The immortal didn't really care, but he knew Takaimi would never make such an offhanded comment without reason.

"Did you know Sonin's one of the few fuckers around here that are loyal to our asshole leader?"

"I did not." He himself was rather neutral towards the top commander.

"Well, I found his ass out without him or his shithead buddies noticing, so…" she drank a mouthful of whiskey then spun the bottle in her hand, "Let's just say he won't be so loyal when his squad mates are done with him."

"You ordered his execution?"

"Not quite," she replied as she capped the alcohol and pulled an unfiltered cigarette from her half-empty pack, "They don't know it yet, but they're smart. They'll figure it out."

"What about other loyalists?" the undying man questioned, "Sonin is surely not the only one."

"True, but the asshole's alone on his squad. No one'll be the wiser when he's nailed to the wall."

"Are you concerned about the other loyalists reporting you? Our leader _is_ holding your daughter hostage in case you betray him."

Takaimi's mildly pleasant demeanor instantly darkened at the mention of her child. "It's not unusual for our squads to turn on each other in extreme situations. Sonin's teammates are known for their hatred of our shitty superior. The other fuckhead loyalists won't be able to trace anything back to me."

"What about now? They could be listening…"

"Why do you think everyone's out on assignment all the time? Besides," she pulled her instrument of battle to her lap and strummed a few chords, "This room ain't bugged at all."

After a moment of silence, Fumetsu asked, "What about me? How can you be sure I won't turn you in?" It was a hypothetical question; he was honestly in this for the slaughtering, but he was curious nonetheless.

"You know what'd happen," she took a deep breath and polished off her cigarette, "I'd tear you limb from limb and burn the leftovers. Even that shit'll kill you zombie bastards."

--

Days passed and the survival examination in the Forest of Death continued in all its brutal glory. The dawning hours of the test proved to be the most intense with the arrival of the ninja in charge of the experienced Grass trio single handedly crippling team seven. Naruto wasn't thrilled about the fight to begin with; he wanted to battle all three and was sorely let down when the other two promptly disappeared upon arrival. The blonde decided that the fox's chakra was worthy enough to unleash against the lone opponent and he was right… until the enemy slipped up in his control and exuded an immense amount of power. The moment the Uzumaki felt this, he knew something was wrong; novice ninjas did _not_ have this kind of power, much less the ability to conceal it so well.

So the young genius sat on his hands in recovery. While he slept off the effects of the battle, his senses were wide awake, feeding information to his semi-conscious mind in case anything his teammates or allies couldn't handle came along. Thankfully, no formidable opponents showed and he was able to enjoy his lengthy slumber.

But after he woke up he was anxious for something- _anything_- to happen. He was bored out of his skull and had a hankering for some action. Deciding to take a risk, he waited until his teammates weren't paying attention to him and tapped his foot against the ground, creating a dozen earth clones in the nearby forest. The copies instantly changed their appearance to that of his alter ego and moved off as one in search of hostile targets.

Meanwhile, Hinata was going through similar withdrawals. Team eight may as well have been seeded into the final tournament; they recovered their second scroll from a hapless squad that was stupid enough to run into a horde of leeches. "_Leeches, for God's sake! Freakin' bugs!_" Needless to say, she waited patiently for Kiba and Shino to nod off before she could make her move. During her wait, she either slept or pondered over what she saw in the forest with the applicant named 'Gaara'. Her musings never lasted long due to the lack of information on the murderous youth and her own boredom. She needed something to keep her mind occupied, and there simply wasn't anything in the tower to satisfy her needs.

The moment of truth for her solitary excursion finally came when both her teammates dozed off simultaneously in a room isolated from the others. She administered her sleep drug to the two, keeping close tabs on the complicated mixture so the Aburame's insects would also succumb to its influence, and applied her simple hypnotism techniques on the two. If everything fared well, and she had no reason to doubt herself since her methods worked flawlessly on her younger sibling, the boys would wake up at least a day later and be none the wiser to the missing time.

She silently exited the compound, unsealed her newly reconstructed battle gear from a scroll she kept in her pouch, and sailed off into the dark forest as Silence.

--

As the sun rose in the noon sky, the numerous Curse clones leapt from tree to tree in search of the Grass trio. The copies' minds were occupied with the final thoughts of the original: confront the ninja that gave him problems earlier as well as his… or her... team. The masked earth clones had no need to dispatch the handful of opposing squads they passed by; they simply weren't worth the effort.

Another few minutes went by and one of the Curses halted. The others noticed and the web of geniuses closed in on the observant copy. Their many mirrored eyes scanned the thick foliage and rested on a slightly less cluttered patch of ground atop an elevated mound that was almost completely concealed by the towering trees. One of the clones began to glance around the perimeter and found an unexpected azure mask staring back from across the 'clearing'.

Likewise, Silence was also surprised to find Curse in the Forest of Death or, at least, his clones. "_No matter,_" she shrugged the coincidence off for the moment, seeing that there were bigger problems brewing within the enclosed hilltop.

Three men stood between the monstrous trees, one of them holding an angular iron spike that pierced a fresh corpse's throat. The man with the outstretched arm wore a huge deep green cloak loosely tied together by a pale emerald sash. His blue spiky hair stuck straight back against his head like bent needles, held in place by another light jade-colored piece of cloth.

Another wore close cropped clothes dyed a dull blue and embroidered with fantastic golden threads that were intricately woven together to form multiple dragons. His blonde hair emerged into a crew cut from the blue embroidered fabric tied around his eyes.

The third man was in stark contrast to the other two's mostly upbeat color scheme. He was of short stature and dressed like a ninja of old; ebony robes that concealed all but his eyes and hands. His forehead was protected by a shaft of smooth metal painted black that angled back against his head and his simple belt held two darkened short blades. He came straight out of a textbook of ancient shinobi history.

As the prodigies noted the stranger's surroundings, they noticed two other corpses nailed to the winding limbs of the ancient trees.

"_It's those other two Grass ninjas,_" Hinata recognized the familiar dead men and wondered why the newest victim had been attacked. "_Judging by his appearance,_" she noted, "_It looks like he's with those other three; he's dressed strangely and he doesn't have a village headband._"

The man in the green garb retracted his foot long iron nail and the rusty weapon receded into his loose sleeve. "Can't believe this bastard was a loyalist. Who'da known?"

"Good thing we found him out," the blindfolded figure stated with a subdued smirk, "Sonin and his friends all deserve to die."

"We are being watched," the stocky traditional ninja stated.

"You think I didn't notice?" The sage-colored spike user berated his comrade as he glanced in the direction of the Curse clones. "You must be this 'Curse' guy, right?"

The copies said nothing in the vain hope that maybe, just maybe, their presences were concealed and the hostile man was merely bluffing.

"The other presence must be 'Silence'," the diminutive shinobi said as his eyes glanced in the girl's direction.

"No shit," the brightly-colored blonde enemy said with a friendly smile. "Let's do this thing!" He raised his open palms to his face and touched the tips of his fingers together. "Onryou, you're up!"

The dark ninja nodded and shimmered from view.

"You know," the green-clad enemy ejected his lengthy nail from his loose cloak and held it out in a challenging manner against Naruto's clones, "I hope you guys made your peace, 'cause your all gonna die today!"

"Gosunkugi, stay on task," the traditional shinobi's voice spoke to the nail wielder from nowhere.

"You guys have all the fun before me," the colorful man whined as he clasped his hands together and began to fade from view. "I'm Genseien! Nice to meet you!"

The Uzumaki's earth clones suddenly felt one of their numbers slosh into mud. They all turned to the rear to find an embroidered palm protruding from the mound of wet dirt before fading away again.

Hinata activated her Byakugan to find Genseien behind her temporary ally when her superior vision suddenly brought Onryou into view… right behind her. She ducked in time for the traditional ninja's short painted blade to cleanly slice off the bottom of the beige shroud that concealed her blue hair.

The prodigies found themselves being forced into the clearing by the opposing forces, and thus the battle began.

* * *

Have I lost anyone yet? Good. (Notice that I didn't anticipate a 'yes' or 'no'... )

Now hit me with your theories via reviews! A little hint to those who like to think excessively: if I don't specifically type a fact out, any assumption is mere speculation. Ha! Chew on that for a while...

Almost 5 in the mornin'. Must sleep. Places to go tomorrow...


	12. We broke the rules! We played the game!

Finally! Had the time to finish the fight I left ya'll hangin' on. A bit short, but there's something to be said about brevity.

Usual disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything out of 'Ben Hur' (standard disclaimer- if you get what I'm talking about, I'll give you a cookie).

'Nuff said, now go and read.

* * *

"C'mon!" Gosunkugi yelled as the multiple prodigies were forced towards him by his teammates. He flung his arms out in both directions and his deep green cloak fluttered in the breeze, letting loose a salvo of large rusty arm-length square nails.

Hinata pushed off a branch with her left foot and spun gracefully in the air between the airborne spikes, twirling her gauntlet blade to counteract the dark-clad ninja following suit. Her Byakugan had been inactive when the traditional shinobi initially melted from view, but her now- activated bloodline could clearly make out the shorter man as he also spun around the projectiles with his own harsh grace.

The Curse earth clones were not as fortunate. Four of the eleven copies were struck by the elongated nails while distracted in their search for the elaborately decorated man hidden from their sight. The two clones in front of the remaining seven redirected their attention to the emerald-clad enemy and unsheathed a pair of metal spears in preparation for an attack.

When they came within striking distance they lunged forward and connected the bladed staffs against metal. As Gosunkugi twisted his body, his thick clothing tore with the momentum, revealing a quartet of nails loosely strapped to the inside of the cloak interlocking around the spears' blades.

Silence descended on the nail user after successfully fending off her semi-visible assailant. As Onryou dodged behind trees to avoid the multiple exploding stakes fired from the Hyuuga's launchers, the blue-haired girl swung her bladed gauntlet down upon the sage-clad man, aiming for his head. With a mad grin, the enemy shot his right arm back to intercept the female genius while thrusting his opposing limb against Naruto's dual clones. Two of the rusted, angular spikes ripped through his cloak and, somehow forming an air-filled wedge as they traveled side by side, caught her extended blade.

Hinata swore under her breath and kicked her legs out at his back on impulse, hoping to connect her chakra-charged feet with the stationary opponent. Sure enough, her electrified sandals landed on something but it was not flesh. The surface pushed back and she abandoned the attack when she realized it was more elongated nails. "_Damnit,_" she thought as she leapt away into the waiting arms of the ebony-clad ninja, "_I can't see through that damn cloak! Must be lined with seals designed specifically to hinder the Byakugan._" She swung around and countered Onryou's drawn blade with her own. "_If that's true, then these guys have gathered a ton of intel on the village and its weaknesses…_"

The Uzumaki copies confronting Gosunkugi dropped their spears when the enemy, unconcerned by the rival prodigy's attack, thrust an arm out, throwing another salvo of angular spikes at them. The moment they stepped back they prepared for a counter attack only to have the farthest one return to mud as the invisible Genseien thrust an arm through it. The invisible enemy had made short work of almost all the clones during the confrontation, reducing their numbers to a mere two.

The earth copy that had not yet engaged the spike-tossing shinobi pressed his back against the one that had, determined to ward off the hidden ninja while his double watched his back. It glanced at the ground and saw a few leaves flatten as if being stepped upon and launched a salvo of ninja stars at the location. But it was all in vain when the now-familiar knife hand strike came in from the side and plunged itself into the clone's neck, dispersing it into a pile of wet dirt.

Swearing like a sailor, the final clone launched a handful of lethal yo-yos around the branches above and retracted the wires in a heartbeat, pulling himself into the temporary safety of the dark canopy. "Can't fight like this," the copy mumbled as it watched its temporary ally divide her attention between Gosunkugi and Onryou. "They're forcing us into a two-front battle and their teamwork's really good. They make up for the others' shortcomings…"

"Yo," a voice said from behind the copy before its owner buried his fist into the copy's skull. "One left to go…" he murmured, peering at the surrounded genius girl despite his blindfolded state. The young prodigy already had her hands full with his teammates, so his assistance would dispatch her easily. Maintaining his technique, he leapt from the oversized branch for another attached to a monstrous tree lower down…

And whipped around when he heard several 'thunks' followed by the sound of his previous position being engulfed in a burst of flames. "_There're more of them?!_"

Naruto, upon receiving the memories of his deceased clones, had managed to fool his own squad by replacing himself with a clone so he could personally fight the mysterious trio alongside his temporary ally. The final experience to enter his mind revealed the blindfolded man's location, so he unsealed several oversized shuriken covered in explosive tags and lobbed them in the man's last known general direction. He didn't see body parts flying though, so he figured he was two seconds too late.

As the blonde lunged forward past the smoking tree, he felt something press against his mind as well as his chest. Suddenly, a sharp pain emanated from beneath his sternum and his hands instinctively shot around the developing wound, only to stop as if wrapping around an imaginary limb. The boy grit his teeth and, on a hunch, curled his ringed fingers around the unseen appendage and swung himself and whatever he clung to haphazardly to the forest floor. He crashed against the hard dirt and felt massive bruising developing along his side, but he also heard a grunt of pain alongside his own. He held onto his invisible assailant.

"Silence!" he called to his not-so-distant ally, "How you doing?!"

"Not good!" she shouted back as her head fell between her knees in an effort to duck under something the boy couldn't see, "I need some help here!"

"Right! But first, can you see this guy?!" He guessed where Genseien's neck should be and put the man in an awkward headlock that was slowly failing.

"He's using genjutsu!"

"What, seriously?" he muttered to himself as he halted his chakra flow and the colorful man's outline began to shimmer into view. "Oh, hey! You're right!"

"Damn it!" the restrained man swore. "Gos! Onryou!" he addressed his comrades in a rising panic, "Help!"

Hinata, having driven her fight with the traditional ninja into the trees' cover to avoid the nail user's attacks, had finally managed to block the short man's route with a web of wires stretching between her new explosive needles. If her opponent put any pressure on a single line, he would be caught in a conflagration filled with high velocity steel slivers. The girl unleashed her rebuilt Yin and Yang against the trapped man and prepared her right arm's dual stake launchers to fire explosive bolts in whichever direction the enemy planned to dodge. The deadly top bore down on the ebony-clad shinobi and he moved to the right, so she aimed her arm in the same direction. Her fingers twitched, pulling down on the tiny wires that acted as triggers and the pre-fractured rods were let loose with a burst of hot steam. They flew at the man as he drew his second short blade and their fuses dwindled to nothing. The female prodigy smirked; she had this one.

Or so she thought. In a flash, the traditional ninja jabbed his short shorts out straight in front of him in perfect alignment with the airborne rods then thrust his arms akimbo, knocking the stakes into the figurative minefield of wires and needles to his sides. He was easily clear from the ensuing explosion as he sheathed his short ninja blades, drew a pair of shuriken from where his jacket met his pants, and then flung the projectiles at the genius girl with amazing ferocity.

The Hyuuga easily batted them to the side with her bladed gauntlet as she remotely controlled her deadly top to turn into the enemy, but the minor distraction of the ninja stars did its job. Yin and Yang spun like mad, its curved blades blurred around the rim, into the enemy's position, missing by a hair as Onryou made a hasty retreat through the now-cleared needle minefield.

"Damn it!" She twisted in place, loading another pair of explosive bolts and firing wildly at the ebony-clad ninja, failing to hit him by an embarrassingly wide margin. She dashed after him but soon encountered a half-completed ring of arm-sized rusted nails floating in midair and pointing towards her. The small metal pikes flew forward and Hinata was forced into an elaborate dance to avoid them all as they stuck into the ground upon which she stood.

Naruto, having drawn a kunai from one of the smaller seals on his arm, was preparing to run its sharp metal edge across his restrained target when the shorter ninja appeared directly in front of him, snatched the knife from his struggling hand, and stabbed said hand with his own weapon. The Uzumaki, realizing his predicament, released his quarry and leapt back into the trees behind him. He yanked the knife from his hand and the deep wound immediately began to smoke shut thanks to the accursed fox. He unsealed his favored ninjato and was hit with a sudden realization.

"Silence!" he shouted, "Push forward now!" He stuck his sword into the ground and its glyphs glowed brilliantly as it synched with the earth below. He pulled it free and an attached whip of stone followed.

"Right!" the girl yelled back, understanding the tactical advantage the intelligent duo now had. Before, the two had been forced to fight on dual fronts, but now the hostile trio was located between them, trapped in the same disadvantage. She recalled Yin and Yang, sent a surge of electrical energy through it, and then lobbed it at Gosunkugi. The spinning blades crackled as the top of death spun wildly towards the nail wielder.

Said ninja cracked an amused smile and pulled his heavy cloak off, throwing it to the ground with a significant 'clunk' of metal on metal. He began to move his arms like a boisterous soothsayer and the elongated rusted spikes in his discarded clothing moved out of their holsters and began to rotate around his body in a rough spherical shape, slowly building up speed in preparation for clashing with Silence's deadly disk.

The Hyuuga frowned behind her blue, smooth mask as her Byakugan finally got a good look at the man. She could faintly make out chakra strings connecting the free-standing weapons to his fingers; the lines couldn't be more than a few molecules in diameter but they were definitely there, revealed by the amplified glow of chakra in the girl's bloodline eyes.

"_I get it…_" she mused as her superior vision noted that _every_ nail was rising into the air with the strings' support, including the ones behind her. "Curse!" she called to her temporary ally as the crimson masked genius struggled to fight off the genjutsu user as well as the traditional ninja, "This nail guy's a puppeteer!"

"A puppeteer?!" he shot back as he hacked a log to pieces, convinced that Genseien was merely projecting a piece of wood before his mirrored eyes. He instantly broke off from the skirmish, brushed by Onryou and receiving a minor gash as payment, and approached Gosunkugi with his modified sword drawn. "Lemme handle him! I know how puppeteers work!"

The genius girl nodded and, using Yin and Yang to distract the spike wielding ninja, dashed by Naruto in the opposite direction. Her intelligent rival was obviously having trouble with the illusions cast by the blindfolded shinobi and, combined with the close quarters combat provided by the ebony-clad ninja, was losing to the combination. "_Looks like that genjutsu guy's extending his techniques to this 'Onryou' as well,_" she analyzed, blinking hard as the colorful blind man shimmered from her excellent vision, "_Strong stuff, too. My Byakugan's losing him from time to time. Must be directly applying chakra to my senses…_" She bound a coil of wires around the lethal disk and lobbed the weapon in the midst of the scattering duo. Utilizing its remote control, the closet genius commanded the circular device to spin chaotically in random patterns around her enemies, enclosing them in an electrified kill zone. They didn't look too worried.

The Uzumaki smirked as he glanced back at his temporary partner's setup before resetting his gaze against the puppeteer. He sealed his blade into one of the large marks on his back and, in the return motion, unsealed a total of eight kunai from the smaller tattoos on his arms and charged them with enough chakra to burn through anything. The moment he was ready, the snakelike line of arm-length square nails shifted towards him and whipped forward.

An eternity of minutes passed as the two geniuses fought with their backs to the other. Whenever Silence encountered a technique beyond her specialties she called upon Curse and he stepped in while she ensured safety for his blind spots. Likewise, if the trio of enemies switched tactics and Naruto got into trouble as a result, Hinata backed him up as he watched her back. Slowly yet surely, the prodigies were inherently learning to work around the other's weaknesses to form a perfect team.

The sun began to noticeably dip into the afternoon sky, and the battleground was littered with scorch marks, destroyed and ignored weaponry, and small smoking craters. The ancient trees bore new marks of intense conflict, and the once grassy clearing around the mostly stationary puppeteer had been ground into burnt dirt and mud. All parties involved displayed signs of weariness; just because they possessed large stores of chakra did not mean they couldn't tire out with such a high number of hostile antics.

"Had enough yet?" Gosunkugi asked with a grin, chest rising and falling as he panted. The nails still revolved around him in midair, but he was using fewer and fewer of the rusted skewers as time went on.

"Not quite," the blonde answered. He brought his ninjato to bear and aimed it at the man. "Who do you guys work for?"

The spike user cocked a curious eyebrow at the masked duo and glanced at his equally puzzled teammates before looking back. "You don't know…? I thought you captured Shia…"

"She doesn't know," he promptly returned. "And Giza died before he could tell us."

"_There's that 'Shia' again,_" the Hyuuga wondered as she threw a hidden look of skepticism towards the boy to her left. "_I'm makin' him spill everything about her when we're done here…_"

Genseien chuckled. "You know," he raised his open palms in a friendly gesture, "Does it really matter if you know who we work for? I mean, you can't be on our side at this point, not anymore."

Silence decided to add her two cents. "Giza mentioned that everyone in the 'advance recon' is a criminal from your village and hates its leader. Why is that?"

"The answer is simple," Onryou replied in his deep, formal voice, "All of us have a grudge of some sort against our leader. My clan predates the creation of ninjustu and genjutsu, so every ninja produced by my family specializes in close quarters combat, yet he still has the power to hold my clan hostage. If we do not supply him with shinobi, he will eradicate my entire family."

"My village got razed to the ground when I was a kid," the genjutsu user spoke up, "Turned out the guys that did it were under his supervision, so I joined up for revenge."

"I laid railroad track with my old man," Gosunkugi explained as one of his massive nails spun lazily next to his head, "Before my folks got killed in the last great war, so my three little sisters and I were orphans for a while. We joined the village for the promise of 'bread, water, and shelter'. 'Course, you can have all that in a prison…" The rotating nail halted at the implication.

"Then why?" the blonde asked, "Why do you follow his orders? Why don't you join us? You could have your revenge…"

"There're a few assholes that are still loyal," the nail user interjected with anger in his voice, "And we don't know who or how many there are. If there's even a hint of betrayal, we're all fucked. That's why we gotta do what we gotta do…"

Hinata delved further into the mystery. "Giza also mentioned that your leader is coming to Konoha. Who is he? Maybe we can help…"

"We don't want your help," the blindfolded illusionist spat, "And we don't want your sympathy. This is _our_ revenge, not yours. I won't be happy unless I help mount that bastard's head on a pike."

"_Sounds familiar,_" Naruto mused with a certain Uchiha in mind, "_If they're as single-minded as Sasuke, then there's no helping them._" He tapped his female ally on the shoulder. "They're gone," he said with humility, "We can't help them if they don't want it."

"Yeah," she nodded, accepting what had to be done. She loaded the final two explosive rods into the stake launchers on her right arm as she thumbed the remote for Yin and Yang. The intelligent duo burst forward for the enemies and she whispered into his ear before parting, "Go for the genjutsu guy. I'll back you up when the time comes."

The blonde didn't know what she meant exactly, but he trusted her judgment; she was better at debunking the art of illusions anyway. "_Wait a sec,_" an observation struck him, "_There are no eye holes in her mask and she really knows how to dispel genjutsu without too much effort. Isn't there a bloodline that does that…?_" His mind instantly dropped the train of thought as Genseien shimmered from view and he went into a defensive stance, batting away the rusty nails encircling him and keeping his azure eyes open for the invisible man.

The blue-haired girl kept her Byakugan focused on the illusionist, Onryou, and the puppeteer's airborne weapons. She had to time things just right in order to eliminate one source of their woes. She swung her left arm, the attached gauntlet's blade clashing with the traditional ninja's dark short swords with glints of sparks announcing the metals' contact. She purposely caught an upturned root with her heel and fell backwards, narrowly avoiding having her head removed as the short shinobi swung one of his blades. Kicking back with both legs, her left foot knocked the short sword out of the man's extended arm before her right appendage's momentum swung her body back into the upright position. In the same motion, she aimed her stake launchers at the opponent and fired one of the final two rods into the close quarter's specialist's shoulder. The projectile wasn't stopped by bone, so instead it passed through and exploded against a tree a ways back. The intended affect, however, was delivered as Onryou clutched his wound and put distance between them. Hinata's superior vision saw Curse systematically fighting off the barrage of angular spikes and a path, however small, opened between the nails. She burst forward when she saw her chance.

Naruto was having a rough time dealing with the constant distraction of the rusty armaments coupled with the impending threat of an invisible assassin. Any small opening between the nails could allow a deathblow hidden from his eyes to pass through, and taking the time to 'secure' the temporary pathways took away from his concentration and allowed several massive spikes to bury themselves into his flesh. He couldn't afford to spend time or effort in removing the rusty things either, because doing so would only break his concentration even more, thus allowing more nails to surpass his defense. Another small break in the line opened up and the Uzumaki only glanced at it once before averting his gaze elsewhere. Suddenly, the sixth sense in the back of his skull felt another presence nearby and his head shot around to find the air next to him vibrating so lightly that a mere glance would easily miss it. He moved to swing his blade at Genseien, but he knew his body was turned too far in the other direction to make it in time. He began to consider dipping into the fox's chakra…

When a flash of blue bumped into him. In that moment, the blonde's senses slowed everything down and he saw the world crawl by. His azure eyes noted another nail thrusting forward as Silence, who was now at his back, grasped the shimmering air with both hands and moved the genjutsu user directly in front of the advancing spike. His slowed vision clearly saw the blood burst from the enemy's chest as the weapon thoroughly pierced the man's heart. The crimson liquid shone brilliantly in the afternoon sun and the sharpness of the rusted spike's edge appeared as an infinite canyon of reddened iron. As the fraction of a second passed, the speed of reality caught up and the boy was surprised to find his ally embracing him tightly enough to somewhat constrict his breathing.

"Shit!" Gosunkugi swore due to the friendly fire. His reaction time had been reduced during the course of the battle, so the heightened possibility of him accidentally killing a comrade with a close attack had become so high it came true. He clenched his hands into fists and pulled his arms back, chakra wires translating the motion into another attack: every nail encircling the enemy shooting inwards with fantastic speed.

In the span of a heartbeat, Hinata pulled Naruto to the ground, creating as little surface area as their combined bodies could manage. The moment they hit the dirt, Yin and Yang's internal generator spun like mad. As the nails neared, the electrical field of the circular device activated and the rusted metal weapons were violently thrown away in the synchronized magnetic wave.

"Shit, shit, shit!" the puppeteer threw a fit as his mind raced. His concentration had fallen to his pent up frustration. He reformed several energy strings, scooped up some nearby angular spikes, and tossed them at the duo.

The genius girl had the advantage at this point. She unattached the deadly top and tossed it at the oncoming weapons, activating the magnetic field when it was clear of her and Curse. Once again, Gosunkugi's attack was nullified by a wave of opposing magnetism.

The blonde broke off from his temporary ally and confronted the wounded Onryou, capitalizing on the opponent's wounded shoulder. The boy summoned a few earth clones and, after surrounding the increasingly desperate ninja, unceremoniously inflicted several wounds on the traditional shinobi. Consciousness fading from blood loss, the close quarters combat specialist fell to his knees and passed out onto the scorched dirt face first.

"That's _it_, Goddammit!" the nail user shouted in anger as his second teammate went down. He shot his arms out away from his body and exerted the last of his chakra into his final technique. Yin and Yang spun into him with crackling blades, but he winced and took the intense pain like a man, bending over slightly so the circular weapon would be too entangle with his body to be extracted. His eyes darted back and forth, noting that the geniuses were both closing in on him simultaneously. When their distance became satisfactory, he grasped all the chakra strings and every nail scattered across the battlefield shot up and formed a loose, rotating dome around the standing combatants. "See you in hell!" he screamed against the pain and pulled his arms in as he fell to a knee.

The spikes filling the air ceased their rotation and shot inward, sharp end first; it was a mutual suicide technique. Naruto and Hinata instantly realized what was happening but they were far too close to Gosunkugi to escape. The Hyuuga swallowed hard as her swift mind struggled to come up with a solution quickly enough to work.

"_Yin and Yang's too far away to reach in time,_" she analyzed, "_Looks like I'll have to use gentle fist techniques…_" She began to fall into position when she was suddenly embraced around the abdomen. Glancing back in surprise, she found Curse holding her tightly with his back to the incoming elongated nails.

"Hang on!" he shouted as he dipped into the fox's chakra and applied it to his body. With a great amount of effort, he pushed back with his legs and, along with his ally, flew backwards against the rusty barrage. He winced as a handful of the large nails grazed and stuck into his back, but he emerged with no more than three still painfully attached to him.

As the duo cleared the hailstorm of metal, they witnessed the angular spikes impale Gosunkugi at every angle. He had been the center of the technique and, therefore, the recipient of the full brunt of the suicide move. The nails penetrated him at every possible configuration and there was no evidence that there was even a body underneath the rusted metal save for the dripping of blood and the occasional exposed bone.

"Are you okay?" Silence asked as she moved around to Curse's back and examined his wounds. "Well, no vitals are hit," she diagnosed, "But you got some serious wounds here- what are you doing?!"

"What?" he inquired as he reached back to pull the three spikes from his flesh. Each one hurt like hell and he winced with every motion. With the final weapon removed, he sat on the ground, panting hard. His masked head swiveled around when he felt a pleasant tingling on his back. "What're you doing?"

"Healing the worst injuries," Hinata responded as her medical techniques worked their magic on the most horrific of the wounds. After several minutes, her impromptu patient was stable and she sat a few feet away from him, totally exhausted. She chuckled, "Thanks a bunch for saving my ass."

"Thanks for saving mine," he replied with a smile as his minor wounds began healing with the aid of the nine-tailed demon's chakra. He glanced at the statue of rusted metal and was struck with a horrid realization. His head shot back and forth in search for his target without success. With apprehension lining his voice, he asked, "Where's Onryou…?"

--

Said traditional ninja stumbled away from the battlefield while clutching his wounds closely in an attempt to stem the bleeding. Thankfully, it was working, and he also seemed to have evaded the genius couple. "_I'm going home,_" he thought as pleasant memories of his ancient clan flooded his mind, "_They won't miss me here._" He passed the corpse of the loyalist, Sonin, and considered what his fate would have been if he had not been forced to serve his tyrant of a ruler.

His musings didn't last long. Before he even realized what was going on, a giant snake erupted from the forest behind him and swallowed him whole. Normally, he would have cut his way out despite his wounds, but the oversized beast was a powerful summon; it disappeared into its own dimension, sealing the doomed fate of the ebony-clad shinobi.

A certain Sannin hiding in the skin of an amorphous Grass ninja oversaw the unorthodox execution with a sickly grin. He gazed at his dead subordinates- also concealed by the other Grass ninjas' flesh- nailed to the massive tree. "That's what you get for killing my servants," he muttered before exiting the scene.

--

As the survival portion of the Chunin exams came to an end with too many contestants passing, elite squads of jounin prowled practice arena fourty-four in search of the test's dropouts, if any were left to be found.

Squad twenty-one was one such team on this search. The day had been unbelievably slow, since almost all participants had already been accounted for, dead or alive. However, standard procedure dictated that the training area be searched over with a fine tooth and comb a second time should not every genin be located on the first pass. This happened every single time, and even then there were almost always rookie shinobi totally missing, vanished into the darkness of the deadly forest.

Haru, a distant relative to Inoichi Yamanaka, searched alongside his comrades as they passed effortlessly beneath the ancient trees' canopy for bodies. He was the black sheep of the family, preferring to keep his distance from family affairs and instead be more involved with his duties as a jounin. He stifled a yawn as he leapt off another branch; he was bored out of his mind. "_We're not gonna find anything anyway…_" he whined internally. "_I mean, there's only a few genin not- whoa…_" His train of thought ended instantly when he spotted a scorched section of earth inhabited by a lone individual. He signaled his team and they halted, peering at the scene.

The strange man was in a straight jacket and walked as if inflicted with cerebral palsy. His unruly mane of hair looked like someone had dumped buckets of paint with every color of the spectrum on his head and forgot to wash. He staggered in place around a man-sized column of rusted metal and there was a trail of blood running off the battlefield into the cover of the forest's thick foliage.

"What's his affiliation?" one of Haru's comrades whispered, "I don't see a village headband."

"Let me figure it out," the estranged Yamanaka said as he balanced his body against the tree in preparation for his family's patented mind-body switch. Content that his body wouldn't fall to certain death when 'unattended', he performed the technique and his mind transferred into the distant stranger.

Upon entry, Haru wondered why it was so simple to enter the unusual man's mind; there was always a minute amount of resistance due to the invading personality shoving the original to the side. "_Alright, let's access his memories,_" he thought to himself as he delved into the odd man's mind…

To find almost no substance. There were no old memories, or at least none from before a certain point. He accessed the oldest thought he could find in the stranger to find a fixed vision of a clouded individual coming into view. Slowly, the image clarified as the figure spoke.

"It seems you survived," the still-blurry man said with a sly voice, "I am impressed by your tenacity." The memory continued as its subject came into focus. "Your eyes are full of hate. That's good; hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength…" The speaker came into crystal clarity and Haru gasped when he recognized the man.

"_I need to warn the others!_" The possessed body swung towards his comrades and he opened his mouth to speak. "_Ow! What the hell is this?!_" The stranger's tongue moved in front of his eyes and the estranged Yamanaka noticed incredibly sharp piercings lining the rim alongside… "_Is that barbed wire?!_" He gazed at his teammates and a radio crackled in his ear.

"Hey Mosh-mosh," the voice said, "You see 'em, right? Go ahead and kill 'em."

The stranger's possessed body began a bum rush at the elite jounin and Haru was panicking. "_Why can't I control his body?! This is impossible! It's impossible!_" His internal monologue froze as 'Mosh-mosh' scaled a tree and leapt at an impossible angle at his startled teammates. "_Wait, no… it is possible…_" he came to a horrid realization, "_If he doesn't have a mind to begin with…_"

Haru watched helplessly as his jounin comrades were slaughtered and passed away when his mind broke away from the stranger but had no living body to return to.

* * *

As usual, I'm still busy as hell with work. I know I keep saying 'don't expect another chapter 'till the beginning of May', so I'm just gonna say this: I'm very busy and don't know when I'll have the time to write (that is, until classes end in May).


	13. Speed Runnin Arcs and Iron Man!

Yo! Finally finished my fscking exams and moved to a new house! Sorry for the wait and the shortness of this update, but I really felt dragging the chapter on without getting into fighting would make for a slightly uneasy read.

Anyways, enjoy.

obligatory disclaimer: don't own Naruto. Wouldn't want to right now...

* * *

As the Chunin exam rolled on, bringing with it the preliminary rounds due to a surplus of remaining examinees, Curse and Silence participated in the fights as they saw fit. Naruto, knowing his idiotic pride wouldn't allow him to loose to an imbecile like Kiba, decided to cut it close with his victory.

Hinata, on the other hand, knew her older cousin Neji was considered a genius of the gentle fist style and his loss by her hands would signal the end of her shy girl persona. That wouldn't do; so she threw the fight with no one being the wiser. She even had to hold off on utilizing her chakra to heal her inconsequential injuries; how would she explain having no wounds whatsoever when she was so clearly scarred during the mock battle?

On a side note, the blue-haired genius was impressed by the Uzumaki's performance against her smelly teammate. "_Looks like he got better,_" she mused as the boy thoroughly trounced the dog-like boy, "_Even if he did win by a fart…_" She giggled internally at the idea of passing wind defeated a 'superior' force.

Naruto was also taken aback by the skills exhibited by the girl. He smirked a bit to himself when she lasted as long as she did against a self-proclaimed prodigy. "_She even adopted my way of the ninja,_" he thought, "_That's so freakin' cute!_" His mind began to ponder the concept that, should he never actually find someone, maybe her sweet and subservient nature would be all he needed to get by…

When the skirmishes to determine the ten required participants came to a close, the geniuses, hospitalization aside, returned to their respective hidden lives to continue their veiled war against Takaimi and her private army.

--

It had been a week since Hinata's return from the infirmary and she was already back in full swing as far as her personal research went. During her absence, Shiori and Ichirou had been working on the assignment given to them; discover a surefire way to obliterate every ounce of the Jashin follower. Upon the return of their Mistress, the assembled Hyuugas handed their findings over with pride.

"Here, Mistress," Shiori said with her usual undue cheeriness as she pushed forward an overflowing folder to the intelligent girl.

"We narrowed down our results pretty early on," Ichirou added with that trademark twitch of his cheek. "We were even able to find a shortcut for it!"

"It's a liquid," the female semi-living woman explained as Hinata flipped through the extensive report, "That can be injected into the energy weapon and infused with the same properties as the energy blast."

"A liquid you say?" she inquired halfheartedly without breaking her gaze on the paper.

"Yes, Mistress. It still contains the properties of a liquid at the same time, too."

"Like a gel?"

"No, ma'am," the male Hyuuga interjected, "It's more like heavy water; it flows the same."

The girl furrowed her brow in interest and broke her eyes from the huge report. "Really? You got any on hand?"

"Of course! Right this way, Mistress."

The reassembled Hyuugas led the girl to a steel and glass container and tapped a code into adjacent control panels, prompting the lid to slide open with a hiss of freezing mist. The undercover prodigy waltzed over to the pedestal and grasped her modified energy weapon which now sported a cylindrical tube welded right above the handle along with multicolored wires flowing to the tip of the device.

"Got a target set up for me?"

"Right here, Mistress!" Shiori presented a solid block of lead at least six inches in width and length. She placed the heavy cube on a glassy pedestal and waved her hand in an inviting gesture. "Place the tip of the weapon on top of this and pull the trigger!"

Silence did as she was told and, as soon as the trigger was pulled, the machine whirred violently and the fluid swished in the tube and oozed out onto the metal block. Upon contact, the glowing watery substance slowly dripped down the lead, smoking like mad as the metal melted. The liquid spread exponentially as time went on and soon enough, the block as well as its pedestal drooped to the floor as its molecular structure boiled away.

"This works great!" the Hyuuga exclaimed as the burning liquid ran dry, "A little slow, but this is fantastic!"

"Unfortunately, it only works at point blank range," Shiori pointed out with a smile while scratching the back of her head, "And the amount of liquid that can be poured in one go is… limited…"

"So the device can only…" Hinata stumbled to find the appropriate words, "'heat up' the liquid at a certain rate."

"That, and the amount that can be fed into the weapon has to be limited just so you can carry it …"

"And the weapon is still prone to overheating like before," Ichirou interrupted.

The girl turned the machine over in her hands, analyzing it with observant eyes. "So it can only be used once or twice before burning out, and its ammo count is relatively low…"

"Er," Shiori jumped in to respectfully correct her Mistress, "A separate container can be constructed and the fluid pumped in directly…"

Hinata nodded with an approving smirk. "Sounds good to me. Let's hop to it."

--

Naruto was having an interesting day. Soon after convening from the post-preliminary meeting, he spent most of the next day pestering Kakashi to teach him a few things. He seriously doubted the one-eyed jonin would do so due to being more suited to overseeing Sasuke, but still, maybe the man was one to give in if only to shut the blonde up.

But, of course, that didn't happen. Instead, the undercover genius got saddled with the closet pervert, Ebisu. While the special tutor's initial chakra exercise was far too basic for his tastes, the boy was having disturbing amounts of difficulties; that five-point seal on his gut wreaked havoc with his system and was so foreign to him that he needed time to decipher it. "_That, or find a seal expert who's seen this before,_" he mused as he took the plunge into the searing hot water for the hundredth time.

That was the day he came face-to-face with the legendary toad sannin, Jiraiya. The Uzumaki immediately recognized the old man's name but knew full well his idiotic persona would be lost as a kitten at the mere mention of the elderly ninja. The blonde eventually pestered the aging shinobi to take him under his wing, albeit haphazardly. He took a mental breath of relief when the old guy told him to take his shirt off; he had replaced his tattoo seals with his 'invisible' ink just the day before. "_Cut it closer, will ya?!_" he mocked himself.

As the days of the allotted month of training dragged on, Naruto was amused to no end by the antics of the perverted sannin. Every time he berated the old man as loudly as possible, he was secretly laughing his ass off at the guy's reactions; he was funny as hell! The blonde was also pleased on finally being able to get his hands on a summons contract. He rarely got out of 'training' these days, unable to slip away from the keen eyes of the legendary ninja. If only he knew how observant the old man really was…

As Jiraiya peered at the boy from the corner of his eye, he pondered, "_This kid's somethin' else. When I took Orochimaru's five point seal off, I felt a huge rush of chakra in his system. His coils are really developed too, and I don't think it's because of all the nine-tailed fox's chakra running through him, either. A mere surge of power leaves the coils enlarged like something forced its way through, and his system's far too refined for that._" He paused mentally as a thought struck him. "_It's as if he's been using advanced techniques for a long time… but I read the report on this kid; he's an idiot. He couldn't possibly use high level techniques nobody's ever taught him… could he?_" His train of thinking continued along this line until a new gaggle of attractive girls passed in front of his bush. "_Oho! What a view…!_"

--

Danzo rifled through files not his own on his desk. His personal army had followed orders to 'relieve' some documents from the Hokage's office. More specifically, documents pertaining to the head ninja's ANBU forces. The one-eyed elder shinobi had heard the report from Anko Mitarashi regarding the return of the rogue ninja Orochimaru. The ROOT leader's ambitions dictated that Konoha remain safe at all costs- but there would have to be sacrifices to do so, and what better sacrifices than those of his unofficial rival?

His stark mind noticed a sudden presence morphing from the darnkness of the room's shadowed corner. "Sten," he addressed the hooded figure, "What news do you bring?"

"My supervisor has told me to inform you of the progress of our part of the bargain regarding our agreement."

Danzo halted his motions of flipping through the many pages of elite ninjas; this was far more important. "What have you to report?"

"We have been monitoring Orochimaru for quite some time now, and we have determined that a crucial part of his plans include a clan believed to be extinct by the rest of the world."

The old ninja's eyebrow arched. He questioned why this lackey was in possession of such knowledge. "How do you know this?"

"We have our resources," was the prompt, lifeless reply.

The old war hawk mulled the vague statement over for a moment. "What do you plan to do?"

"Your payment has already been delivered, so we will neutralize the deciding factor in this new threat. Please keep in mind that our agreement dictates that my organization keep the lowest of profiles."

"I understand perfectly." Danzo sat back in his seat and eyed the cloaked man. His keen eye for ideal shinobi material kicked in and he had to speak up. "What village were you affiliated with before siding with our associate?"

The unusual stranger betrayed the most emotion the war hawk had ever seen him display; he arched an eyebrow. After a few seconds, he answered. "I have never been a part of any village."

"A pity. You would have made a perfect shinobi."

"Is this an attempt to recruit me?"

The old war hawk chuckled. "My apologies. Your lack of emotions doesn't impede your judgment…" he trailed off, noticing his visitor's blank stare full of… disdain?

If long awkward silences could kill a man, Danzo would have been dead a thousand times over. "Is that all?" the hooded man stated apathetically. When no reply was given, he continued, "Then I shall take my leave." He backed into the pitch-black corner and disappeared into the shadows.

--

A dark passageway within the compound of the hidden Sound village was silent save for a barely noticeable wind gusting through the ventilator shafts. Within the hushed tunnels existed an equally dim room containing I.V. drips and monitors that pulsed with lights indicating vital signs alongside countless other bits of medical information. A man lay prone on a clean bed in the center of the chamber, clearly ill even by a normal person's standards. His eyes fluttered ever so slightly at the inaudible pulsating of a light that coalesced with every color known to man in a corner of the room, but the young man did not awaken.

Two figures approached the sick individual; one in a worn blue suit with a pale complexion and the other donned in a aged lab coat that had seen better days. As the duo neared the slumbering youth, the man in the suit spoke with his trademark lisp.

"Well, doctor… here he is. Perform the necessary… operations."

"Right, right," the presumed 'doctor' replied as if he had nothing better to do. He fingered a syringe from his dirtied clothes and hastily inserted it into one of the I.V. drips attached to the bedridden man. Almost instantaneously, the lights on the monitors fluctuated as the youth's vitals dropped or escalated to dangerous levels. "Remind me why we're doing this again? Don't we have a contract with this guy?"

"Not with Orochimaru," the strange man hissed like a snake, "Our connections with him were… terminated… when he violated our agreement."

"Do I even wanna know?" the medical man asked with a sarcastic sneer as his pinky finger dug into his ear.

"It's best if you not ask questions; you are not quite as… well informed regarding the… business transactions of our… organization."

"Whatever," he replied, flicking away the waxy goodness he extracted. He glanced to the heavy door when he heard rapid footsteps and multiple voices of concern echoing down the hallway. "We stayin' for tea or what?"

"We shall take our leave," the man in the suit replied before a brilliant show of light washed over them, obscuring their forms from view. A moment later, they disappeared from the snake sannin's compound.

The following instant, Kabuto and a handful of Sound medics burst into the room and surrounded the youth, applying every manner of healing techniques and technology available to them. "Shit!" the Yakushi swore, "What the hell happened?! His condition shouldn't be this bad!"

Instructions were thrown around like there was no tomorrow as the medic ninjas scrambled to save the patient from the brink of death. An eternity later, the young man's life was stable, but he would never fight again.

"Dammit," Kabuto gnawed on his thumb before turning to one of his coworkers. "Inform Orochimaru that Kimimaro Kaguya's condition is critical; I don't think he'll be able to fight in Konoha…"

--

That evening, Naruto managed to sneak home amidst the careful watch Jiraiya seemed to have placed on him. "Damn," he grumbled as he changed his clothes, "Even the old perv's gettin' wise…" Even so, he smirked to himself as he thought about what he had gained. In his spare time underneath Konoha, he had already somewhat perfected the art of summoning. He still couldn't invoke the leader of the toads, but he had already established good relations with several notable frogs.

He emerged from his hidden chamber into the extensive catacombs in search of either a fight or his temporary ally. Since engaging in battle with Silence during this tumultuous time would be counterproductive, he at least wanted to show off his newfound skills. "_Wait a second,_" he suddenly realized as he dodged and weaved through narrow and wide tunnels alike, "_Contracts don't circulate very much and there are few people who can summon a certain animal. When I finally publicize my skills with summoning toads, Silence will know exactly who I am!_" He tortured himself mentally as his surroundings whizzed by in a dim blur. "_Agh! What do I do, what do I do…?!_"

He continued to agonize over the decision until he came upon the 'Hub', the familiar vertical shaft of interconnecting passageways which saw more and more action these days. He paused, wondering which adjacent tunnel to take when he saw movement from the corner of his azure eye. His head swiveled as he instinctively dropped into a low stance while reaching around to his back and unsealing his modified ninjato…

Only to gaze upon Silence's smooth brilliant blue mask. The fellow genius was lugging a steel one liter tank horizontally across the back of her waist under Yin and Yang and a thin dark tube that ran from the container to a familiar-looking energy weapon strapped to her thigh.

"Something new?" the blonde asked as he eased his position and pointed halfheartedly at the modified device.

"Damn straight," she replied with a grin hidden by her visage and a slight playfulness in her pristine voice, "So what's up?"

"Not much," he realized he was smiling as well, "Figured we'd kick some foreigner ass tonight."

"Sounds like a plan!" the intelligent girl exclaimed as she formed chakra in her foot and stepped off with a great leap, sailing through the air alongside her fellow genius. "You… have a plan… right?"

"Yeah," the blonde replied nonchalantly while digging a hand through his dull camouflage jacket and extracting a worn rolled-up paper. He nodded his head towards the ground, signaling the duo to stop for a moment. Hinata obeyed and he unraveled the document, revealing a crude marked-up map of the catacombs. He pointed to a series of red circles and explained, "This is the base of Takaimi's army. This outer area's something of a perimeter, this is living quarters, I think, and this is the command center."

"And we're…" the Hyuuga scanned the sheet, mentally cross-checking her notes with her rival's, and tapped a section of paper when she figured it out. "About here, right?"

"You got it. So now we go that way," he thrust an extended finger to their right. He replaced the map and stood with his temporary ally. "Let's go."

"Yep," she responded simply before jolting away next to the boy.

As the dual geniuses sped off, a pair of light crimson eyes peered at them from a passing corridor, unblinking and void of any discernible emotions to an untrained mind. The feminine orbs blinked and their owner turned to rush off in the opposing direction; others had to know about this, and they had to know now.

* * *

I would give you a 'good news, bad news' phrase here, but I can't think of any bad news, so I'll give you the good news: one more fight (which is a turning point in and of itself) until the 'grand' finale of this particular story arc (aka: chunin exam period).

Catchya round!


	14. Freaks, Demons, and Love in the air!

Phew, took longer than I thought. Hope you enjoy it.

Don't own Naruto. Too bad.

* * *

Shia sat huddled in a corner of her crude cell, wrapped in her dirty comforter up against the seal-decorated bars. Her brown eyes were locked in horror at the sight across from her.

Lying against the opposite corner was a perfect mirror image of herself, albeit with a few differences of the personality aspect. The false mental projection sat cross-legged with one elbow balancing on a knee while the adjoining hand supported her head. A sick grimace spread across her messy features and she spoke with a certain tone that the disturbed girl lacked… sort of.

"Look at how bad things are," the image stated simply, "That you're even starting to _see_ me."

"Shut up," Shia whispered, terrified that her second personality had begun to manifest itself into a hallucination, "J-just shut up…"

"And what can you do?" the projection continued unabated, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, that's why I exist at all…"

"Shut up." Her voice was growing louder.

"To pull your sorry ass out of the fire. I am a necessary part of your sad existence."

"S-shut up…"

"I am everything you're not. I think about your situation, I am your passion, I am your strength!"

"Shut up!" Shia lost her cool and shrieked at the empty corner, "Shut up! S-shut up!"

The image's eyebrows arched upwards at the sudden display of confidence. "Fine, I'll stay quiet for now… but you gotta realize you can't do this forever."

The brown-haired girl said nothing as she stared into the abyss. Her alter ego's words struck deep, and deep down she knew her second personality was right.

"Shia," the mental projection said authoritatively, "I don't care if you wanna die or not, but you're not dragging me down with you."

"W-why do y-you care?!" the disturbed girl shouted in pent-up frustration, "It's m-my life!"

"It's my life too!" the vision stood in anger and approached the prone girl, "Just because we share the same body doesn't mean we share the same fate!"

"I-if it wasn't f-for me, y-you w-wouldn't exist." She began to crawl back into her hole of shyness.

"Damn right," was the merciless reply, "If it wasn't for your weakness, I wouldn't have to shoulder your problems." The cruel second self's features softened ever so slightly and she took a seat at Shia's feet, peering at the young girl with cold, calculating eyes. "Every action I've taken has been to keep both of us alive, and you know that's true. I'm just telling you what you need to hear." She leaned forward a hair. "If you get outta here, don't stay with Curse."

The brown-haired girl blinked away the oncoming tears and glanced at the image with surprise. "W-what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. He's treated you well so far, but who knows how long that will last?" She leaned back and sighed. "If you stay with him, you're going to die. Mark my words on that one."

Shia could say nothing in return as her alter ego slowly began to fade from view. She knew full well that her second personality had never led her astray in the past, but it had also never made such a far-flung prediction either. Her troubled mind didn't know what to think. Her brown eyes suddenly focused on the transparent ghost before her and she shot out the first thing that came to mind. "D-do you have a-a name?"

The disappearing image's eyebrows arched in honest surprise before her eyes narrowed and lips split into a sick grin. "Thought you'd never ask. Call me Aiya."

--

Takaimi sat in her uncomfortable stone chair drinking hard whiskey and smoking unfiltered cigarettes per her custom when the Jashin follower entered the large chamber. "'Sup, fucker?" she greeted nonchalantly.

"Nina spotted Curse and Silence breaching the outer perimeter and Dual's team is moving to intercept them."

"Dual radio it in?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't call me that, asshole. What about the rest of my dumbass troops?"

"Only a few teams are stationed in the catacombs. The rest are on assignment as the nobles' servants and guards."

The fiery woman sighed hard and took a swig of liquor followed by a long pull on her cigarette. She exhaled a puff of pristine smoke and spoke again. "Any chance we can call some back as reinforcements?"

"Not without alerting Konoha to our presence."

"Ah, fuck…" she depleted the current object of her oral fixation and lit another roll of tobacco. She exhibited no concern whatsoever. "Oh well, can't win 'em all I guess."

"Do you expect Dual's team to defeat them?"

"Dual? Nah, no fuckin' way. Got too much shit on his mind; clouds his judgement."

Fumetsu briefly recalled his crude commander's situation involving her daughter. "The same could be said about you as well, commander…"

Her eyes darkened and she glared daggers and hate into the undying assassin. "Fuck off." Her words were filled with as much venom as she could muster and were spoken with slow clarity so as to portray her lethal seriousness.

--

Curse and Silence charged down an enlarged hallway with minimal noise being generated by their swift footsteps. According to Shia's notes, their current position was somewhere just behind the perimeter of the foreign army.

"Hey," Hinata began as they ran, "Where is everyone?" Her Byakugan didn't see anything, but she knew full well that there were certain combinations of seals that could impede its sight. "_If these guys have been here for as long as I think they have, they might know about its weaknesses…_"

Naruto managed to shrug in mid-stride. "No idea. I wonder if anyone's waiting for us… what?!" he suddenly cried as he was shoved to the side, "What are you… oh." His answer flew by attached to a chain. In a flash, he repositioned himself in midair and his steel-plated geta sandals slammed into the wall.

The blue-haired genius landed similarly on the opposite wall, clenching her teeth as she did so. "_Oh yeah, they know how to bypass the Byakugan. Good thing that… thing… was in the open._" She didn't have to glance back to see the clear form of a freakishly long staff with two opposing sickle blades at either end. "Curse!" she called as she reached for Yin and Yang, "At the end of the hall!"

"Got it!" he yelled back then spun off the wall and grasped the long chain attached to the dual sickle. He reeled back, collecting chakra in his chest and preparing to exhale in a burst of searing flame. But before he could do anything, he was jerked forward when the chain surged back.

"Get off!"

"I know!" He leapt back against the wall as the huge double sided weapon spun back down the corridor like a rotor from hell. When the huge weapon disappeared into the dim light, both prodigies sat still against the walls in preparation for another onslaught.

"You missed!" a harsh voice echoed from the shadows, "You suck!"

The Konoha duo released themselves from the sides of the tunnel and landed on the floor, crouched and ready for the voice's owner and anyone else to emerge from the shadows. The patter of feet sounded off the walls in a casual manner and, slowly yet surely, four figures appeared from the darkness.

"Curse and Silence, eh?" a man donned in a mismatched mask greeted unpleasantly, "Pleased to meet ya!" His brown hair was a tangled mess on one side and neatly combed back on the other behind a visage painted porcelain white on one side and dull olive green on the other. His clothes consisted of a bland light grey vest strapped over an extremely baggy brown sweater and loose-fitting pants of a similar color. "Now, Curse…" he turned towards the aforementioned genius with an outstretched arm, "They call me Dual, and I got business with you!"

Naruto's hidden azure eyes darted back and forth between the quadruple combatants, sizing them up as best he could. He instantly found the owner of the huge weapon, and he could best describe the man as evil personified. The tall man was covered from neck to toe in dozens of overlapping dark belts that only broke around the black-clad joints. His head hung low, face covered by a wild mane of long dark hair that sprung out in every direction, giving him the appearance of something demonic rather than human.

In stark contrast to the swarthy man was a girl donned in cool, vibrant colors standing next to him. Her eyes were such a light crimson that they appeared pink in the poorly lit corridor and her deep violet hair flowed gracefully between her shoulder blades. She wore something of a battle-ready kimono of a similar purple that was trimmed with a soft fabric that matched her eyes and held together by a smooth silk rope. The lower portion of her garb parted, revealing her legs clad in a similar violet fabric and feet wrapped in corresponding cloths without being sheathed in any kind of real footwear.

Hinata wondered about the nationality of the girl who appeared only a few years her senior when she noted the final combatant. Her bloodline instantly penetrated the odd man and she stifled a gasp. "_What the hell happened to him?_" she wondered as she gazed at the man constricted by a straight jacket. The enemy swayed back and forth, swishing his overly colored hair in the air as he twitched every once in a while. The only outward evidence that anything was wrong with the man was the all metal boots that he wore… with four elongated steel-clad toes each that moved on their own accord.

"What're you staring at?!" the masked man shouted, clearly irritated at the brief awkward silence. "You little pieces of shit! I'll kill you both!" He shook his head to calm himself then slapped a palm against the ninja in a straight jacket. "Mosh-mosh, you're with me. Nina, Scythe," he addressed the other two, "You take the chick."

The silent duo nodded and leapt forward with newfound speed while Dual lunged at Naruto alongside Mosh-mosh. The Uzumaki and the Hyuuga readied their weapons of choice and the battle began.

--

Sarutobi sat in his recreational room in the Hokage tower enjoying a late-night smoke. He hadn't been able to sleep well because of the recent news regarding Orochimaru, and he preferred to spend those sleepless nights in the lobby set aside for his personal use. He normally resided in solitude while lost in his own thoughts, but tonight he had company who was equally disturbed about the return of the snake sannin.

"Lord Hokage," Anko said, anxiety dripping off of her like water, "Is there really nothing we can do about him? Do we really have to sit around waiting for him to make his move?"

"I'm sorry Anko," the elder shinobi returned between pulls on his pipe, "But the situation is very sensitive, and acting against him may start an international incident." He sighed at the ill memories of his former pupil. "It pains me just as much, but it is my duty to ensure the absolute safety of the village…"

"Safety?!" the Mitarashi shouted in anger, "If we don't kill him soon, Konoha's safety will be the least of our problems!" She slammed her palms on the table. "We have to take action now!"

"Anko, please calm down. We have to…" he paused, a look of minor concern etched across his aging features, "Did you feel anything?"

Anko scrunched her face up in concentration then slowly began to shake her head. "No… I didn't notice anything…"

"Sorry, guess I'm just getting old…"

--

"Hey Curse!" Hinata shouted then ducked under the vertical whirlwind of steel that was the double-sided scythe, "A little help here?!"

"I got problems too!" he shouted back, dodging a flurry of stubby wide blades as they danced around his head before shooting out a leg and catching Dual squarely in the gut. The masked man flipped backwards two meters, landed against an airborne Mosh-mosh, and launched himself back into the fray.

The four mysterious combatants had forced the budding geniuses back into the Hub. Their teams acted together in perfect unison, leading the prodigies to believe they had either been working together for years or their abilities complimented each other like no other. The huge vertical tunnel had been rocked once with an inhuman pulse of chakra delivered by Naruto that the enemies didn't even blink an eye at between attacks. At the moment, both Curse and Silence were, figuratively speaking, being screwed to the wall due to the tenacious ferocity of the unusual ninjas.

The blonde turned as he leapt between bridges, unsealing a pair of windmill shuriken and tossing them at the mismatched mask barreling down on him. Dual threw his arms out and brought his weapons, two retractable blades hidden in the sleeves of his dingy jacket, into the holes of the large ninja stars. He instantly flung the weapons to the sides and slashed at the boy's neck, failing as the target grabbed the blades with bare hands. Mosh-mosh, bounding in from somewhere, wrapped his ironclad freak toes around the Uzumaki's arm, reeled back without support, and flung the genius wildly into the air.

"_Oh hell,_" the undercover prodigy thought as he landed against a support pillar and secured himself in place with chakra while sending the fox's energy to his injured hands. The cuts smoked shut and he pulled the extremities back to the tattoo seals on his arms and began a series of rapid movements, unsealing every variety of throwing weapons from the marks and tossing them at the freaks attacking him.

The guy in the straight jacket, per usual, hopped around like a possessed spring while the masked man charged headlong into the onslaught. Curiously, Dual turned to one side and his arm danced in mad random patterns, yet somehow he managed to deflect every single weapon thrown his direction. Upon approaching the prone boy, the odd man twisted to the other side and, with cold precision and determined movements, thrust the other blade at Curse's head.

"Where did you hide Shia?" he asked calmly as he began a lethal tango with the crimson-masked boy.

"Why do you want her back?!" Naruto replied as he parried the dual short blades with his own twin broadswords.

Dual's head shook violently for the briefest of moments and he shrieked, "Just shut up and tell me, you freak!"

"You're one to talk!" The blonde noted the sudden change in temperament, an aspect of this enemy that showed itself more and more as time went on. "_Mood swings much?_" he mused internally as he weaved around the flurry of blades.

Hinata wasn't faring much better. From what she could see, the enemy girl was a medic of some sort. Every time she scored a hit on Scythe, Nina would latch on to the belt-bound shinobi and promptly heal the injuries without saying a word or displaying any emotion whatsoever. The Hyuuga wondered why such a colorful person showed no corresponding feelings.

The demonic-looking man twisted his arm back then lobbed his double sided weapon at her, giving it a trademark deadly spin. Silence pulled her knees in to lower her total surface area as much as possible so she could utilize Yin and Yang's magnetic field and repel the tool of death. The generator inside the lethal top crackled as it spun and, a moment later, a wave of opposing electric power formed a sphere around her and pulsed outward, knocking the elongated scythe away…

But not the entire threat. Silence peered up to find the medic girl had attached herself to the rotating weapon and, now that the instrument of battle had been thwarted, launched herself off with chakra at the female genius. Hinata swung her left arm out and ejected her needle-filled blade from its gauntlet. The weapon missed the target, instead impacting with a steel-toed foot that came out of nowhere. "_This guy again?!_"

Nina took the opportunity to reach around the interrupting limb and jab a precise scalpel of chakra into the Hyuuga's right shoulder, temporarily rendering the limb numb and immobile. "_Shit!_" the prodigy cursed and remotely popped the bolt holding her blade in place, releasing the sharpened piece of metal then split from the scene to put some distance between her and the multiple enemies.

"Mosh-mosh!" Dual shouted, catching the attention of the absentminded man, "Get back here!"

The bound man gurgled something unintelligible and turned to his superior and did something the prodigies had yet to see- stuck his tongue out. However, to say this was a childish gesture of defiance would be foolhardy; the organ slurped towards Curse, who was at least a dozen meters away, and two ringed piercings at the tip of the tongue supported dual strings of barbed wire that emerged from the man's ever-smiling mouth.

"What the shit?!" Naruto cried as the moist and bladed organ wrapped around his arm and prevented him from swinging his ninjato against the masked ninja. The elongated tongue squeezed and dug into his flesh. "Ow! Ow!"

"Curse!" Silence shouted as her chakra revitalized her right arm. She aimed her twin stake launchers at the stretched organ and fired with a blast of steam. Mosh-mosh seemed to get the point and retracted the makeshift weapon as he performed another gravity defiant series of flips and twists. There was no way a normal person was that agile…

The Hyuuga's airborne bolts exploded harmlessly, sending a hail of shrapnel in all directions but injuring no one. An idea struck her and she began to dance around the small fields of jagged needles left behind by her stakes, stringing wire around the slivers of metal with her foot like a living sewing machine. Her Byakugan saw Scythe's oversized weapon fly towards her and become entangled in her makeshift web. She glanced up to find Nina charging down the taut chain attached to the double sided instrument of war and smirked; if this worked, she'd kill two birds with one stone.

She pulled Yin and Yang from its supports on her back, unleashed its many curved blades from its center, and harshly inserted the weapon into the gaps of the long chain. The genius girl leapt from the kill zone and activated her electric device, sending a massive jolt of lightning up the steel links. Her bloodline eyes peered up and saw Scythe receive the full brunt of the attack; the metal loops in his many belts not helping his situation in any way. Hinata smirked when she saw him collapse on his perch then grimaced when she noticed that Nina had, somehow, acted in time to avoid being toasted. The medic girl leapt off, twisted in midair, and then landed dead center in the electrified field of wires…

But she was already wise to Silence's plan. She landed upside down on her extended index fingers, the digits meticulously placed between gaps in the metal strings. The Hyuuga stepped forward in preparation to rush the medic while she was vulnerable, but her foot slid the moment it touched down. She glanced down to find her discarded blade lying beneath her and her intelligent mind acted swiftly. Bending over, she snatched the needled weapon off the ground and flung it with all her might with a chakra-charged limb.

Nina saw the impromptu boomerang fly towards her and, with alert eyes, pushed herself off and started pulling her arms in, but it was too late. The rotating blade passed cleanly through her wrists, amputating her hands. The transferred momentum was enough to destroy her planned trajectory and she fell back down on the wires. At the last moment, she attempted to use her feet to push herself out of the way of the electrified field of wires, but the pain in her limbs distracted her too much; she fell flat on her face and everything went permanently dark as electricity crackled through her.

"_Man, can I think on my feet or what?!_" Hinata congratulated herself internally before rushing off to assist her temporary ally.

Naruto was having a rough time with Dual; the man was pissed at him for whatever reason and he could implement his anger in his attacks flawlessly. "Why do you hate me so much?!"

"I don't have to answer to the likes of you!" He shrieked back and glanced at an oncoming Silence and grinned behind his mismatched visage. "But I'll fight both of you on equal ground…" He leapt forward and engaged the blonde with the left side of his body- the side that acted cold and logical.

"Hey Curse!" Hinata announced as she entered the fray and was met with the stranger's other side- the chaotic one. "Need some help?!"

"Yeah!"

And so it went on. Dual's strange way of fighting simultaneously with separate styles did very well against the geniuses, and the Konoha duo countered every move. Strangely enough, no one ever gained the upper hand longer than a second and a half and the masked man's skill was shown off by the fact that, despite the Uzumaki and Hyuuga's use of advanced ninja techniques, he managed to outmaneuver them using hand-to-hand moves exclusively. The longest ten minutes of the prodigies' lives passed without producing any definite results, save the drain on their chakra reserves.

"Where's that freaky guy?" Naruto asked his companion nonchalantly as he ducked under a solid swing.

"Mosh-mosh?" Dual replied, not wholeheartedly pissed for once.

"Wasn't talking to you!"

"Whatever." He sidestepped a blast of chakra-enhanced wind.

"Where is he, anyway?" Hinata wondered out loud.

"Who the hell knows?!" he slipped back into disgruntled mode. "He does what I say, and I wanna kill you two myself!"

"What is he?" the blue-haired girl continued. If she could keep the guy talking, it might divide his attention.

"He's a freak built by our fucking leader! Dunno why he only listens to me, but he does!" His mismatched mask glanced at the blonde boy and the wild half of the man's hair quivered as if enraged. "And you!" He lunged with both arms. "Tell me where Shia is!"

"_There's my chance!_" the pale-eyed girl realized, seeing Dual's exposed side. She leaned forward and pressed her stake launchers against the man and fired at point blank range.

The combatant felt the weapons touch his clothes and arched his back to avoid being punctured and succeeded… somewhat. The timers inside the rods had been severely reduced for such a situation, resulting in the bolts exploding in a shower of shrapnel, peppering all three ninjas but hammering the enemy much harder than the intelligent duo.

Dual hit the ground shrieking in torment, squirming in unison with his pained voice. "Mosh-mosh! Get me outta here!" The freak complied with a tongue wrapping around his jaw and yanking him from the fray.

But the damages were not exclusive; both Naruto and Hinata received their own share of molten needles. On the plus side, no permanent injuries were inflicted such as the gouging of eyes and whatnot, but the pain was still there, and it was spread around evenly. The Hyuuga had a harder time dealing with it; she didn't have a demon inside of her willing to heal every little physical altercation. She hit the ground, wincing and whimpering as she moved to yank the shrapnel from her body.

"Lemme help you," the blonde said as he extracted the last of his ragged needles. He knelt beside her and began systematically pulling the shards of metal from his ally. He was used to such things, but he knew she wouldn't be. "You can heal these, right?" he referred to the minor injuries.

"Yeah, yeah," she panted, smiling behind her crisp blue mask that someone would go out of their way to help her. The boy stood before her and helped her up as she began utilizing her chakra to plug the many holes. "Thanks," she said humbly.

"No problem."

"Where's Dual?" she changed the subject. They began scanning the area to find said ninja and found him lying face up under the freak in the straight jacket.

"Mosh-mosh," the critically injured man gasped. His mismatched mask had slipped off to reveal brown eyes full of hate amidst a field of old scars. "This is my final order." A trembling arm reached up behind the sleeves of the straight jacket and slipped in to cut the straps. With the last of his strength, he yanked back and freed the man's arms. "Kill them all," he spoke his last and passed on with open eyes.

The sleeves parted and the man's arms fell to the floor- well, his hands did. In place of his arms were coils upon coils of barbed wire surrounding some kind of stringy membrane that connected the hands to the body. The freak began to dance in an epileptic circle, building up momentum before throwing his arms out.

"Holy shit!" the blonde shouted as he ran out of the way with his partner in tow.

The faux limbs flew past him and the clawed hands clenched the pillar behind them. Mosh-mosh pulled back, launching himself into the air at the young targets. He opened his mouth and shot out that unnatural tongue at the two, catching Hinata around the arm. Yanking his head back in a way that would snap a normal person's neck, he jerked the intelligent girl away from her rival and positioned his clawed feet to dig into her skull.

"Silence!" Naruto shouted as he unsealed an oversized shuriken and tossed it at the airborne man. Despite his impeccable aim, the enemy twisted impossibly in mid-flight and continued his descent towards the trapped girl. "Shit, shit, shit!" the Uzumaki cursed as he unleashed his twin broadswords and stood over the Hyuuga, ready to attack the freak when he got there. The enemy came within striking distance and the boy thrust a sword at him…

And missed by a mile. At the last possible second, the multicolored freak twisted out of the way and landed right behind the young genius. Mosh-mosh swung his barbed arms into the boy while unraveling his tongue from the girl while simultaneously running the organ painfully around his body. The blonde grunted as the many barbs scarred his flesh. He had hoped to take advantage of the enemy while all his resources were focused on him, but every limb was a fully-utilized weapon…

The freak suddenly shrieked in pain and reeled a bloodied tongue back into his mouth. Curse's hidden azure eyes glanced at his ally to find that she had punctured the sensitive organ with a piece of shrapnel while she had the chance.

"Thanks a ton!" the intelligent boy said as he secured the enemy's faux limbs to his bleeding body and attempted to throw the combatant into an uncontrollable spin. Sadly, it didn't work as Mosh-mosh merely moved in closer, leapt up, and painfully grasped the blonde's shoulders with clawed feet. The boy screamed in torment as the steel-toed digits dug resolutely into his flesh, and there was no way to shake the freak off.

"Dammit!" Silence swore when she saw her partner trapped by the insane man. She stood and charged him with the intent to shoot an explosive rod right into his head. Upon reaching the guy, she pressed her stake launchers into the enemy's mane of messy multicolored hair and prepared to fire…

But to no avail. Mosh-mosh, in a fit crazed movement, turned and smashed his forehead into hers, rendering her unconscious. The blue-haired girl fell to the ground, unwillingly leaving her ally to fend for himself.

"Silence!" Curse called when he saw her hit the dirt, "Are you okay?!" The freak's tongue reemerged and wrapped around his neck, cutting off his breathing. "Silence," he gasped for the life-giving gas as the world began to darken, "Silence, get up… please get up…" His consciousness faded.

The next thing the boy knew, he was standing over a bruised and broken Mosh-mosh. The man's limbs, false or otherwise, were either bent in unnatural directions or snapped off and straddled over the sides of the battle-torn bridge beneath his feet. "_What happened?_" he wondered as he began to inspect himself, finding no wounds whatsoever. "_Oh shit,_" he came to an unfortunate realization, "_Did the fox take over?!_" He suddenly remembered his companion and ran towards her. "Silence?! Hey, Silence?! Are you okay?!"

Hinata stirred and found herself staring into the eyes of her temporary ally. "_What's he doing here?_" she thought in a daze, "_Shouldn't he be… oh, damn!_" She bolted up and peered intently at the freak's mangled corpse before glancing back at her rival. "What… what happened?"

"I'll get to that later. First off, are you okay?"

She stood to her feet and stretched a bit, noting any injuries as she did so. After satisfactorily determining that she wouldn't die, she replied. "I'll live. Now," her voice took a lighter tone, "You only got one; I got three." She held out three fingers, smiling behind her blue visage. "I won this time!"

Naruto's jaw dropped at the curveball then curled into a wide smile. "Yeah, I guess you did," he admitted his loss jovially, "Really kicked my ass…"

The two laughed the situation off and the Hyuuga spoke again. "I'm beat. You mind if we try again later?"

"Not at all; I'm tired too. See ya around."

"Catch you later."

As they parted ways, the blonde scooped up Dual's white and green mask while the pale-eyed girl gathered up Mosh-mosh's corpse for observation. Each party worked in silence at their small tasks; there might be something to learn from both.

--

Naruto returned to his secret chamber and sighed heavily. He was exhausted, no two ways about it. Moving to replace his current clothes with those of his idiotic image, he decided against it; Shia had never seen the orange jumpsuit and, if he could help it, she never would. He took the mismatched visage with him and opened the door to her crude prison.

"Rise and shine," he announced his arrival.

"I-is it m-morning?" was the nervous reply.

"No, just felt like saying that. Listen," he strolled up to her, "I fought some more guys tonight, and some of them were real freaks. Do you know about any more of them?"

"W-who d-did you f-fight?"

"This guy." He tossed the mask onto her lap.

Shia handled the scarred visage with shaky hands as she lifted it to her face. "Y-y-you f-fought th-this o-one?"

The blonde frowned at the increase of her chronic stutter. "Yeah. You know him?"

"A-a-a-and y-you k-k-killed h-him?" Tears began to well up in her brown eyes.

"_This can't be good,_" he thought as he voiced a simple answer. "I wouldn't be here now if I didn't."

The girl clasped the mask to her chest and broke down in the hardest fit of crying the boy had ever seen her exhibit. "Th-th-this i-is m-m-m-m…"

"Calm down," he held up his hands and softened his voice, "Take it slow. Who was this?"

"Th-this i-i-is my b-b-brother's m-mask!" The rest of her blubbering was unintelligible.

"_Oh, dammit. I just killed her only emotional support…_ _wait, wasn't he her remaining family, too?_"

Shia held nothing back as her head leaned against the bars as her tears flowed like waterfalls. In the back of her mind, Aiya tried to rationalize things, but her secondary self was every bit as attached to Dual as she was. The ground below soon became slick with salty tears and the distraught girl was nowhere near finished.

Naruto watched this display of sadness with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he knew he had to approach something like this with cold hard logic, but on the other hand he had just killed off the only relative this girl had. His intelligent mind wracked itself on what to do but eventually empathy won out, seeing as how he had grown up without any family of his own. He knelt down before her and reached through the seal-decorated bars, placing his hand on the back of her head and slowly massaging it.

He said nothing during the whole ordeal, but he didn't have to. Shia didn't reel back from the physical contact and it seemed to have a calming effect, if very small. Twenty minutes later, the girl cried herself to sleep and the blonde gently laid her on the ground through the prison bars. He stood to leave as quietly as possible and made his way for the open doorway. Before shutting the door and bolting it shut, he glanced at her one last time and muttered, "I'm sorry, Shia. I'm so sorry…"

* * *

Aww... ain't that cute?


	15. Rejoice! Gettin oh so closer to Takaimi!

Yo! Sorry for a shorter chapter, but considering I pumped this out after only a few days, I think you'll forgive me...

Let me rephrase that, you _won't _mind. You really won't! Now enjoy!

no more disclaimers, dammit! I'm tired of 'em!

* * *

Naruto awoke the next day to the early morning sun peeking over the horizon, beginning its illumination of the blue sky but nowhere near full swing yet. He sat up, recalling the previous evening's actions and their ensuing consequences. Swinging himself out of bed, he glanced at the clock. "_Lots of time before I have to meet up with Jiraiya._" Deciding to follow up on his unavoidable indiscretions, he strolled over to his vertical entryway, undid its many traps, and descended into his private chamber. Upon entry, he immediately donned enough of is alter ego's clothes to make his appearance decent. He grabbed some chilled meat from a cold locker and some vegetables from a separate food container then placed them on an iron pan over a small pit. The food immediately began to cook once a blazing fire was set underneath and the blonde waltzed over to the prison door while waiting for the sustenance to become hot and edible.

He undid the heavy locks then swung the thick metal door open and was instantly met with a quiet whimpering emanating from the back of the cell. His concealed azure eyes scanned the makeshift jail and found Shia huddled against the back wall, well away from the bars in every direction. He approached the steel barricade and gazed into her moist brown eyes which glanced at him every so often. The boy wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. Rather, it was more like he couldn't say anything to her.

"W-what?" the auburn-haired girl broke the silence, not really bothering to look up. Drying tears stained her face and her voice clearly displayed defeat.

"I'm sorry," was all Naruto could think of.

She slowly shook her head in a manner of disbelief. "P-p-please l-leave me a-alone."

"I really am sorry," he continued. He honestly felt bad about it. "I didn't know…"

"W-what would y-you know?!" Shia shouted in a sudden act of confidence. "Y-y-you d-don't k-know what it's l-like to n-n-not have a f-family! Y-you d-don't know w-what it's l-l-like t-to be a-alone!"

"I do," he interrupted calmly, "Believe me, I do…"

"Y-you d-don't…"

"Yes I do!" he returned rather forcefully, slamming his hands against the bars to hammer his point home. Shia squeaked in fright and backed farther away, if such a thing was possible, at the sudden move. The Uzumaki calmed his voice and tried again, "I've been alone since the day I was born. People hate me for no good reason and only… what, four people… give half a damn that I'm even alive. Trust me on this," he leaned gently against the steel barrier, "You're not as alone as you think you are."

"Liar…" she muttered into her knees, hiding her face from her captor.

Naruto shook his head ever so slightly and disappeared from the room for a moment. He returned with a tin tray of piping hot food and gingerly placed it on the floor. Shia didn't even glance at the steaming meal. The blonde began to run his hands along the bars, feeling out the weak points that he added when he first constructed the jail. After locating all the ones he sought, he applied a dash of his own chakra from the outside and the metal rods disconnected and fell to the floor, creating a rudimentary doorway. He scooped up the heated tray and strolled over to his prisoner.

Shia scooted away when he neared until her back hit the corner, effectively halting her nervous retreat. She whimpered again when the undercover genius knelt in front of her and placed the tray to the side and directed his mirrored gaze into her eyes. He extended a hand and she cringed when a gentle palm graced the top of her head.

"Shia, I really mean it. I _am_ sorry…"

The girl's brown eyes suddenly became angled and harsh and she lurched at the blonde. Her bound arms thrust for his throat but were stopped by his armored geta sandals that caught the chain then shoved it behind her back, halting her forward momentum and planting her awkwardly on her knees. "Screw you!" she shouted with unfamiliar venom, "Things were fine until you came along!"

"Shia?" He hadn't seen this side of her since their first encounter.

"No, Aiya!" she berated him without missing a beat, "Because of you, both of us are gonna die, and I won't let that happen! I'll kill you before you can hurt us!"

Naruto realized that the girl's mind had fully fractured and took swift action. He grasped the angry face before him with both hands and brought his face close to hers, prompting the irritated eyes to contort in malevolent confusion. "Shia, Aiya- whoever you are- I'm not going to hurt you, understand? I never meant to and I will never will…"

"Shut up! I'll kill you!"

He pressed his crimson visage against her face and heard a stifled gasp. "I. will. Not. Hurt. You." Her head was too close for him to see her whole face, but he noticed the harsh eyes arch in surprise then look away as if considering a strategic withdrawal. "_Did she give up?_"

"Asshole," Aiya said flatly before receding, leaving Shia in control again. She immediately burst into newfound tears. "W-what d-do you w-want from m-me?" she sobbed before settling back into her little ball, letting loose the waterworks again.

Naruto plopped down next to her and put an arm around her opposing shoulder; he knew the pain loneliness entailed and decided that no one should have to bear it, not even an enemy. After a while, the young girl ceased crying for the moment and halfheartedly started chewing her cooling meal while the Uzumaki fixed the bars and locked the heavy metal door behind him.

As he changed garments again in preparation to emerge from his hidden chamber, he wondered what Silence was up to. That sudden train of thought struck him as a surprise, as he wasn't entirely certain what this new feeling was. Considering his young prisoner's recent situation, he wasn't sure what to think. "_Why is this so damn confusing? It doesn't make any sense…_"

--

Hinata, having the benefit of being labeled as injured, had all the time she could have ever wanted to perform experiments to her heart's content, but none held her interest as much as the fresh cadaver before her.

She had spent much of the next day dissecting Mosh-mosh to understand why he was so mutilated to begin with, and volumes of paperwork could be generated from the freak's corpse. "Whoever did this," she murmured to no one in particular, "Was a damn genius…"

To begin, all the fingers and toes had been shorn off and some kind of mutated humanlike claws were grafted in their place, allowing for independent movement. The joints in the man's legs had been modified in such a way that the limbs could bend in unnatural ways without breaking, and the long sinewy membranes that connected the hands to the body permitted signals to be received from the brain by the mildly disembodied appendages. The corresponding coils of barbed wire were simply grafted into the flesh.

The impossibly elongated tongue and its wired weaponry were another story entirely. A large portion of the intestinal tract had been removed and necessary organs save the lungs and heart had been forced down, creating room for an oversized and gruesomely constructed stomach that apparently housed the vast majority of the tongue. The false organ was lined with metal rods that supported the barbed wire and spiraled all the way up the man's trachea and ended just below the larynx, which explained why Mosh-mosh couldn't speak; the barbs, over time, had obliterated the voice box. The lungs and heart had been squashed dangerously to the insides of the ribs to allow the enlarged windpipe's existence.

"_All of this is brilliant,_" she mentally praised the freak's creator, "_But this guy had to be in excruciating pain twenty-four seven._" She closed the enormous file, ordered her assisting Hyuugas to store the body, and then took a breather on her couch to think about how the man could endure such torture. "_There must have been some kind of mental conditioning, there had to be! No one could willingly go through this… wait,_" she thought of something, "_No one would volunteer for such a radical program, so that means he was forced. If he was forced, then that would mean the person behind this probably rules by fear rather than respect. Who does that…?_"

Before she knew it, the blue-haired girl spent twenty minutes staring into space, lost in deduction. It would have been longer if Shiori hadn't interrupted her.

"Mistress," the reassembled woman said jovially, "There's some really interesting radio chatter."

"Coming…"

--

Danzo reclined on his couch in the secondary rec room deep within the Hokage tower with Homura and Koharu seated opposite him. The three elder shinobi had convened to discuss the events of the previous evening regarding the strongmen's activities in the unofficial ROOT prowling grounds.

"So Danzo," Homura began, "What have your forces found?"

"One of my teams responded to a pulse of chakra similar to the one several months ago and found evidence of a battle."

An awkward silence passed and Koharu pushed, "And…?"

"Well, therein lies the mystery," Danzo leaned forward as he explained, a rare look of bewilderment crossing his features, "There was evidence of roughly five to six combatants but only one body was found."

"How many parties were involved?"

"I assume there were two but since we know nothing about them it is difficult to say."

"It's clear that one side was victorious," Homura added, "Then why was a single corpse left behind?"

The old war hawk sighed. "Unfortunately, that is not the concern here." He paused for a moment and noted the elders' intrigue before continuing. "The team that reported it responded to the chakra pulse at twenty past eleven but did not arrive at the scene until midnight."

"How is that unusual?" the aging woman inquired, "The tunnels are quite vast."

"The travel time to the battle's location from their starting point is ten minutes, but they arrived forty minutes later and they don't remember why it took so long."

This revelation left the elders wide-eyed. How on earth could crème of the crop shinobi simply loose track of time, and half an hour at that? Something was wrong, and the aging trio knew it.

--

In a room far beneath the streets of Konoha and away from all prying eyes, a miniscule light shimmered with brilliant colors, bathing the otherwise dark room with coalescence that covered every spectrum of the rainbow. A handful of figures stared at the mirrored lights, observing a scene involving three elder ninjas of the Leaf village through the fist-sized portal.

"About time they noticed," Sten commented, glancing at the man in the faded blue suit, "Your talents are much more versatile than I thought. This will keep the pawns busy for a while."

"Now Sten," the shadowed leader of the group chided with his usually suave tone, "They are clients. They are to be treated with utmost respect… as long as they uphold their part of the bargain. Any miscellaneous work they may conduct that does not interfere with the agreement is completely acceptable."

The hooded man merely nodded; he didn't care to argue, especially not with his boss.

"Now Doctor," the head of the mysterious organization addressed the lackadaisical surgeon, "Are these materials suitable for your needs?"

The lazy medical man picked his ear with his right pinky finger. "Well, the big guy- Sith, or whatever his name is- has a suitable bone structure but his insides are toast." He turned to the teenage girl lying next to the belted corpse before him. "And this kid, uh… Nina, has an exceptional nervous system and a really good regenerative capacity."

"Is it…" the pale businessman that spoke with a lisp urged the doctor to finish, "Enough for the… quota?"

"Eh… nah, the big guy's muscles are fried too and the girl's regenerative capabilities aren't enough to repair them completely. I'll need either a whole new set of muscles that match the big guy's build or to mend all that shit together with some kinda…" he paused to find accurate wording, "biological stitches that won't come undone when the muscle fibers finally heal."

"And what do you have in mind, Doctor?" the leader inquired.

He shrugged with bemused indifference. "Dunno, never seen anything like what I'll need before. I'll have to synthesize it from the ground up."

"Very well," the shrouded man agreed benevolently, "Can you give me a projected timeframe for you work?"

Once again, a shrug preceded the reply. "Years. Don't know how long."

Sten decided to add his two cents. "From what you just said, it sounds like if we supplied you with… 'biological stitches' you would finish sooner."

"Yep. Got any ideas?"

"Yeah," he turned toward his leader, "Isn't there one guy with that organization we're doing business with…?"

"They are business partners," he interrupted, "And thus must be treated as allies until they violate our agreement or otherwise dispose of their resources. If who you're thinking of should pass away and not be collected, then we could acquire him properly." He then turned toward the bored man of medicine. "Doctor, please begin working and we'll contact you should any news arise."

"Yeah, whatever," was the apathetic response before he, the man in the dull suit, and the cadavers disappeared in a flash of coalescing lights.

"What about Hinata Hyuuga?" Sten inquired when he was left alone with his leader.

"What do you mean?"

"Naruto Uzumaki already has a down payment on his head so acquiring him is out of the question, but what about the girl?"

"Yes, I see your point." A few seconds passed as he considered. "Well, she is an asset like everything else. I once had a contract with the Hidden Cloud village to arrange for her acquisition until they reneged on our agreement at the last minute and lost my support. I'm sure someone out there with something of value to offer in return will gain an interest for her…"

--

The Hokage couldn't shake that ominous feeling. Ever since hearing of the snake sannin's return he had been on edge and, coupling that with the faint pulse of chakra he felt the previous night, he was intensely worried. For a moment he wondered if the two were related, and that idea scared the hell out of him.

"_If Orochimaru had anything to do with that, then he must have something going on… but I had the same feeling several months ago so that would mean, if he truly is responsible for it, he's had something going on here for quite a while. The only reason I have to doubt myself is that Koharu and Homura claim they know nothing about it._" He frowned at that new train of thought. "_But if I'm not losing it, then there's no way they didn't notice it as well. But then why are they lying? Are they in on it? And if they are, what do they have to gain? Why would they help destroy the village?_" He shook his head to clear his mind. "_Listen to me; I sound like I'm going senile. But,_" he took an extended pull on his pipe, "_It's my job to be paranoid._"

He gazed at the endless paperwork before him and groaned, deciding to procrastinate a little longer. "I wonder how Kakashi's assignment is going?"

--

Off in a rocky training ground, a certain one-eyed jonin sneezed mightily through his face mask. Such a thing was incredibly rare for Kakashi, and everyone knew it.

"_Crap,_" he thought, "_Now I gotta clean this thing._" He glanced at his studious watch. "_You know, Sasuke's really getting into this training. He's running himself into the ground doing it, too. He must be unconsciously competing with Naruto._" He paused at that idea. "_Speaking of which, I haven't seen much of him lately. I handed him over to Ebisu but that guy doesn't seem to be real busy these days, so where's Naruto?_" He noticed the youngest Uchiha fall to his knees in exhaustion. "Alright Sasuke, take a break. You've been at this all day."

"No," he panted, desperately trying to catch his breath, "I can keep going." The Hatake merely shrugged and continued, thinking, "_I've got to surpass him. Curse made a fool of me, and I've got to surpass him! I'm an Uchiha, I have to be greater than him!_"

The self-proclaimed avenger built up another static charge of chakra induced electricity in his hand and rushed the defenseless boulder before him.

--

Kurenai sat leisurely in her home as the sun began to dip into the horizon, resting after her practice session with Kiba and Shino to prepare the bug user for his debut at the main attraction of the chunin exam. Hinata, as far as she knew, spent the day at home due to injuries inflicted by Neji.

"_I feel so bad for the poor girl,_" she thought, taking a sip of tea she had recently brewed, "_She didn't deserve such treatment from her snob of a cousin; she's been trying so hard lately._" She set the cup down and observed a stalk float to the surface, lost in her own mind. "_But when I checked up on her the other day, she seemed fine. She didn't act like anything was wrong yet she still exhibited signs of internal injuries. It was like she was waiting for cues to pretend she was wounded…_"

The Yuhi practically tortured herself to understand why her student would conceal something so serious. She had full confidence in her abilities to read subtleties in other peoples' moods as well as, though she hated to admit it, her 'woman's intuition'. She quietly pondered her female pupil's situation for a while longer before calling it a day.

--

Several hours later, well after much of the Hyuuga household had retired for the day, the young heiress to the prestigious clan dashed through one of the many tunnels of the catacombs beneath Konoha as her true self, Silence. As she neared the massive vertical tunnel that connected to many of the other passageways, her heart skipped a beat; she was looking forward to tonight's battle alongside Curse. If things went well, they would eliminate that Jashin follower and possibly take down this 'Takaimi'. "_Should be an exciting fight. I can't wait!_"

She paused mentally; was it the fight she was looking forward to or was it meeting up with Curse? Such an idea struck her as incredibly odd, mostly because she honestly couldn't tell. "_Do I want a challenging fight, or do I just want to have it with Curse?_"

Her indecision continued as she entered the battle-scarred shaft and awaited her crimson-masked rival to appear. Several minutes passed and she heard the familiar 'cling' of metal on stone; those were her ally's armored geta sandals hitting the floor. She swung her concealed head around to find the boy casually strolling out of an opposing hallway. Feeling those uncomfortable thoughts rising again, she shoved them aside and greeted the fellow genius. "Hey!"

"Hey!" he replied, raising an open palm. In truth, he was every bit as glad to see the girl as she was to see him; his unhindered smile was as wide as hers. "Ready to kick some ass?"

"Of course," she grinned behind her dull blue visage before rushing down their planned route, intentions to eliminate their enemies- together- as strong as ever.

--

Takaimi, per usual, sat on her stone chair in her private smoke-choked chamber that reeked of hard liquor while guzzling whiskey. Her harsh amber eyes turned towards the door when the huge thing creaked open, revealing Fumetsu's unwavering apathetic form.

"S'up," she greeted benevolently, "What d'ya gotta say, fucker?"

"One of our forward cameras has spotted Curse and Silence breaching the perimeter."

"Anyone gonna get 'em?"

"Our forces are stretched far too thin; I would not advise sending any of our weaker teams to intercept them."

"Yeah, like any of those dickless shitters'll listen to me anyway. You go."

The undying man blinked a few times and stared blankly at her. "Commander?"

"You heard me, asshole. Go get 'em!"

"Yes, commander." He bowed his head ever so slightly before stepping back through the doorway. "I'll take my leave now." He shut his superior's door then turned to stroll calmly towards a point he knew the intruders would have to pass through. The smallest of smiles upturned the edges of his lips and he muttered, "By the honor of Jashin…"

* * *

Alright, read this please!!

I'm trying something somewhat complicated involving Naruto/Shia/Hinata. Please please **please** leave a review telling me how you see the current situation regarding them. It'll help me out tons.

And for anyone who's worried regarding pairings, lemme just say this- see those two names at the top of this story? The ones used to signify the main characters of the fic between the genre and review count? Yeah, that's all I gotta say...


	16. Frogs, Morgues, and Zombies! Oh my!

Phew. Sorry for the shorter length, but I wanted to divide the battles like so.

And now for the first order of business, I want to thank everyone who left a review on the last chapter in response to my request; your input really helped and now I have an idea of how to get where I want to go regarding Naruto, Hinata, and Shia/Aiya's relationship(s). Thank you very much!

Coincidentally, chapter 15 broke the record with a whopping 50 reviews! I know that's nuthin' to some big-name fanfic writers, but I don't give a flyin' crap about most of their stories. 'Reprocessed Vomit' someone called it. Anyways, thank you for so many reviews and I hope to keep that high number consistent (that's a cry for more reviews, if you couldn't tell).

And now, on with it. No more disclaimers; I'm tired of 'em.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata sailed through the dim hallways that made up the inner workings of the foreign threat. Strangely enough, there weren't many signs of anyone living in the area other than two small chambers loaded with dirty bunks and a single room lined with empty weapon racks.

"Where is everyone?" Curse thought out loud, "All our opponents made it sound like there were tons of enemies here…"

"I know," Silence replied, "Looks like no one's home."

"Then where the hell did they go?"

"No idea. Maybe…" she began to formulate an idea when her Byakugan noted a large individual emerge from the end of the passage. "Wait a sec, he looks familiar…"

"Why?" the blonde returned as he unsealed a metal spear, "Someone you know?"

As the Konoha duo neared, the monstrous man's form became clearer and clearer in the Hyuuga's amplified eyes. "Yep," she stated once she was certain, "That's Fumetsu."

"Who?"

"The Jashin follower."

"Why didn't you say so?" He released a large shuriken from one of his partially-invisible tattoos and lobbed it at the undying enemy.

The weapon flew true to its aim, whistling as it passed through the stifled air towards the dull-looking assassin. Upon reaching the target, the silhouetted form threw an arm out and caught it by the edge without a second though. The shadowy man discarded the spent oversized throwing star as if he had no cares in the world then disappeared around a corner concealed by the poor lighting. The intelligent pair screeched to a halt beside the intersecting hallway and pressed their backs against the wall, weapons of choice in hand.

"I'll cover the opposite side," the Uzumaki whispered to the girl by his side, "You hug this wall and give me cover with that stake launcher thing." The female genius merely nodded and the two rushed around the corner…

To find nothing. There was no enemy, just another long dim hallway before them. Without saying a word, Curse and Silence maneuvered swiftly and carefully, halting to inspect all intersecting passageways they came across. Every so often Hinata's Byakugan would capture a glimpse of casual movement, but the undercover geniuses never caught up in time to intercept the offending individual.

"Wait," Naruto stated after clearing several corners with his temporary partner, "We're going in circles."

Hinata stopped and thought about that for a moment. "_Holy shit,_" she realized, "_He's right. This place is a damn maze…_" Her superior vision noticed a tiny slit in the wall suddenly fill, and whatever was blocking it kept coming. "Look out!"

The blonde prodigy was taken aback as his partner shoved him a split second before a long chipped cutlass slid out from the wall with dangerous ferocity, inflicting a small cut on the boy's cheek. "Holy crap!" he shouted as the inconsequential injury instantly began to smoke shut and he leapt away from the wall. "Where did that come from?!"

"Behind that wall!" Hinata shot back, moving away alongside her fellow genius. "He's behind that wall!"

"_Guess I couldn't avoid it for long…_" the boy thought as he bit his thumb and touched his palm to the floor, invoking a complex series of seals. Thick smoke rushed forward then cleared, leaving behind a huge blood red frog easily larger than himself. The animal was covered with green-slashed tattoos and wore a full set of battle armor with a huge brush that doubled as a club strapped onto its back.

The genius girl's pale eyes were wide as dinner plates behind her dull azure mask. "_That's a summon! And he did it without a scroll! That means Curse has a contract with toads! This is big… this is so big…_"

The huge amphibious animal turned towards its master and, if frogs had lips, smiled wide. "Hey Curse!" it croaked, "How's it goin'?"

"Not so hot Gamaka," Naruto droned without cracking a smile of any sort. He aimed a finger at the offending wall. "This place is a damn maze and we need to get through that wall. Care to help us out?"

"Yeah, sure," the toad replied jovially as it sat up and swung the paintbrush club around its shoulder. It reared back in preparation to break a hole through the aging stone barricade then glanced at the blue-haired girl. "Who's your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend…"

"Oh yeah?" The frog looked back and forth between the two and commented, "Well you look good together anyway…" It lurched forward, punched a massive hole through the wall with the reinforced bulge in the paintbrush, and then hopped through.

After the Konoha duo forced the blood back down out of their faces they followed the useful summon into a cold chamber. "Oh man," the Uzumaki whistled, "Did all those halls line rooms like this?"

"This place really _is_ a maze," the Hyuuga whispered, the warmth of her breath enough to steam in the freezing air. The place was damp with random leaks dripping from everywhere and dying fluorescent lights gave the room a sickly green appearance. "Reminds me of a morgue…"

"Hey Gamaka," the blonde addressed his summon as he resealed his sleek steel spear, "Lemme handle the brush."

"Sure," it graciously handed the cumbersome weapon over, "But what do you want me to do without it?"

He nodded at his female companion. "Help her out in any way you can."

"I need to get within point blank range of the enemy," Hinata commented, moving a film-covered palm over her energy weapon. "That's all I'll need to kill him."

"You got it!" It crouched to the ground as frogs do and said, "Hop on, little missy." She obeyed and the newly minted team sat there dynamically.

"Where the hell did he go?" Curse muttered, scanning the grungy tiled room, "I can't see him…"

"He's right there," the Hyuuga stated nonchalantly, pointing at shadows at the end of the elongated room.

"I was wondering how long it would take you…" the deep voice of Fumetsu rumbled off the dirty walls, accompanied by slow deliberate footsteps. A few tense seconds passed and the undying assassin eventually came into view under the weak fluorescent bulbs. "Silence, we meet again…"

"You Fumetsu?" Curse inquired calmly, looking absolutely ridiculous wielding that oversized brush.

"You must be Curse," the immortal greeted flatly as he drew his thick, battered cutlass. "But that doesn't matter anymore. I have been tasked with killing both of you tonight… Ah," he pulled out a string of beads and, with a flick of the wrist, wrapped them around his hand, "Mustn't forget to pray first. Wouldn't want to commit heresy."

The geniuses said nothing for a moment, too shocked to do so. But their voices soon returned in the form of simultaneous shouts. "What the hell?!"

"Be quiet," Fumetsu ordered flatly before continuing his inaudible muttering.

The prodigies decided not to give the man time and rushed him in the middle of his prayer. Hinata, comfortably seated atop Gamaka, began to charge her liquidating weapon while her temporary ally reeled the club back. The frog landed atop the assassin and Hinata leapt off, aiming her watery incendiary device at his head… then flinched when the large summon rolled over her in a sudden bout of pain. The crimson toad sported a fresh bleeding wound between the armored plates on its belly.

"Dammit!" the Hyuuga shouted in delayed frustration as she freed herself from the squirming Gamaka, "Get him!"

Naruto said nothing as his borrowed club slammed into the enemy's gut. Fumetsu had gotten to his feet at the moment, and the force imparted by the faux brush sent him flying into the tiled wall, leaving behind a cracked imprint. The undying assassin merely shook off the blow and raised his sword towards the blonde in an unspoken challenge.

Silence aimed her dual stake launchers at the opponent and fired. The exploding rods traveled at blinding speed through the air and grazed Fumetsu, imbedding themselves into the wall behind him. The stakes exploded and showered the Jashin follower from the back with burning slivers, searing his flesh with the heat but not invoking any significant reaction other than him bending his head to crack his neck.

"Never tried this on a summon before," the undying assassin commented as he brought his blade to his lips and gingerly licked the side, wiping off a small portion of Gamaka's blood with his tongue. He then placed the hand that was wounded by Curse's large shuriken on the ground and began swiveling it in large arcs. When he closed the circle and began working on the inner triangle, he said, "I wonder if it will be the same…"

"Shit," Naruto swore as he shouldered the faux brush and put his fingers together in a familiar pattern. A moment later, smoke rushed forth to reveal four exact copies of himself. "You guys know what to do. Go!" A quartet of identical masked faces nodded and the clones rushed off to the four corners of the large room, painting the floor with their respective copies of the oversized toad's brush as they went.

Fumetsu merely eyed this new development without concern. He completed the smear of blood within the circle and stood tall, the barest of smirks distorting his otherwise apathetic features. In an instant, his body attuned itself to the oversized frog and his features shifted to that of an exaggerated voodoo-like skeleton. He raised his thick cutlass against his stomach and said, "It's over for that one," then plunged the blade into his gut.

The summoned frog immediately reeled back, blood spurting from its soft belly. Hinata knew the toad was doomed and, not wanting to be in the vicinity of a desperate animal, moved away.

"H-hey Curse," Gamaka croaked, "I d-don't think I can hang around f-for much longer."

"It's fine, Gamaka!" the blonde yelled back, "You can go home if you want!"

"S-sorry…" The toad disappeared in a poof of smoke as it traveled back to its own dimension, taking with it the ornate club that the Uzumaki had borrowed.

"_Glad I did that in time,_" the boy thought, noting that his clones still possessed their copies of the false brush. "_Now let's hope they get that seal done in time…_"

The blonde rushed forth with his metal spear in hand to confront the Jashin follower head on. However, he knew such a maneuver was suicide and, at the last possible moment, created a pair of Shadow clones that sported the chained gauntlets copied from the Demon brothers. The copies tried to circle the enemy and entangle him in the bladed chain, but one of them met their demise with a sword to the neck, leaving the connected weapon worthless.

Fumetsu glanced up; for a split second, while the gauntlets' chain was being strung, it was taut. While it was in such a tight state, Curse jabbed the edge of his spear into one of the links and launched himself into the air, intent on bringing the elongated tool of battle down on the assassin. The foreign enemy thrust an arm out and caught the metal spear behind the blade, halting the blonde's airborne movement. The boy released the staff weapon and, shoving off his end of the captured tool, pushed himself away from the immortal.

The assassin spun the spear in his hand and struck the other clone in the back hard enough to break its spine, ending the copy's brief existence. He stabbed the staff weapon into the broken tile at his feet and waited for his opponent to reengage him. Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation on his back and swung around, clashing his curved sword against a familiar device.

Silence, having seen her ally momentarily distracting the enemy, decided to move in for the kill. She activated her energy weapon so its internal generator would have the burning liquid ready when she was within range of the enemy. Unfortunately, her temporary partner's feint was thwarted, leaving the genius girl to her own machinations. At that point she was committed to her attack so she thrust her pulsing device forward, searing fluid beginning to seep out and drip down the enemy's back and attracting his unwanted attention.

She leapt back, her delicate machine powering down but now slowly leaking liquid from the large gash inflicted by Fumetsu's cutlass. "Dammit!" she swore, "_Now I've got a time limit. Looks like I'll just have to settle for his head…_"

Naruto saw what happened and rushed in to behead the enemy while the man's attention was diverted, but he didn't reach the assassin in time. His released ninjato met the chipped sword and the blades danced to the tones of steel scraping against steel. The Uzumaki's swordsmanship was far superior to that of the Jashin follower, but the opponent's advantages were threefold: he had no need to worry about fatal injuries, his blows, while simple strikes, carried an enormous amount of force, and, the most frightening of all, he only needed one injury to doom his opponent. What Fumetsu lacked in skill he made for with tenacity, strength, and intimidation.

The blonde was eventually thrown back by a powerful thrust and his azure eyes glanced back and forth to locate his clones. "_Good,_" he found them hastily painting the ground with their oversized brushes, slowly working their way towards the center of the room. "_I bet that seal will throw him off enough for me to take his head._"

The foreign enemy, however, noticed the boy's hesitation in jumping back into the fight and his own bored eyes gazed at the clones. He stabbed his sword into the tile floor at his feet and began running his hands through a series of seals- something neither prodigy had seen him do until now.

Hinata watched the man's fingers carefully, attempting to understand how his chakra would mold so she could counter the technique the moment it activated. A heartbeat later, she realized, "_A lot of Earth seals in there…_"

The second after, the assassin completed his moves and the ground underneath his bloody symbol began to rumble. The tiles cracked around his feet and the floor directly beneath him began to move, advancing as it suddenly became mobile. Fumetsu had pulled off an invaluable technique for any believer of Jashin; the ability to move around while still within the confines of his damage-sharing mark.

"_Shit!_" Naruto realized, "_He's going for the clones!_" He turned to his partner and yelled, "We gotta protect the clones!"

The Hyuuga sprinted into action alongside her fellow genius and yelled back, "Why?! All we need to do is destroy his head!"

"The clones will help us do that if they complete the seal!"

"Seal?!" Her Byakugan focused and she saw that there was indeed a huge seal being painted on the floor. "What is it?!"

"Explosion seal!" he explained, running his legs ragged to catch up to the undying assassin, "It'll tear the floor out from under him!"

"Ah." She kept any further questions to herself while glancing at the leaking device in her hand. About half of the liquid remained. "_Gotta hurry…_"

Fumetsu, standing triumphantly on his moving hunk of tiled floor, pulled Curse's captured spear from the mobile perch and stabbed at a clone, missing by a hair. He pulled back and thrust wildly a few more times while the moving piece of stone weaved shallow trenches into the floor, eventually nailing the misfortunate copy on the fifth try. The clone popped from existence as the mobile rock swiveled in place then shot towards the Curse copy at the opposite end of the dim room. The assassin clashed with Naruto and Hinata as he passed them.

"Holy hell," Silence exclaimed under her breath, "He's friggin' fast!"

"Catch him!"

The Konoha duo pulled a full reversal as they skidded to a halt and took off in the opposing direction, pouring chakra into their legs to catch up to the frighteningly swift immortal. They intercepted him halfway across the large chamber and the blonde threw out his hand and released a salvo of bladed yo-yos from his seal-laden rings. "_Haven't used these in a while,_" he mused, "_They'll come in handy this time._" He manipulated the attached wires and the lethal playthings spun around the enemy, binding him in the tight metal strings. "Now!" he commanded the female genius, "Get him!"

The girl leapt onto the platform as it slowed to a stop and planted her device against the man's forehead. She pulled the trigger and the machine whirred to life. Seconds later, the stored liquid began to burn with acidic ferocity and flow forth, but a small gusher oozed out from the gash in the cylinder, spattering on a few of the wires and disintegrating them.

Fumetsu reacted the instant he felt something loosen on his body and lurched forward, cracking his skull on the blue-haired girl's head while worming an arm free from its flimsy confines. His emancipated hand grasped the undercover prodigy around the throat and he lifted her off the ground, angling his cutlass upwards at her with his trapped limb. "May as well just kill you directly," he commented lifelessly and pulled her towards him, intent on impaling her small body on his waiting blade…

But the girl stopped centimeters away from death. Naruto had rushed in and, desperately keeping the remaining intact wires taut, grasped the immortal's free arm by the wrist and pushed it back. The boy was at an incredibly awkward angle, as he came in from the side rather than the front, and it took every ounce of strength from his young muscles to hold the resisting limb at bay.

"Such loyalty," the enemy said apathetically as he eyed the boy, "But time is on my side. Your muscles will give out eventually."

"Not if I can help it," Naruto returned before turning his head towards the still-struggling Hyuuga, "You still awake?"

"Yeah," she choked. Her body was smaller and, as such, possessed a smaller musculature. Currently, her arms and hands pushed their limits keeping the opponent's iron grip from suffocating her and the gradually decreasing amount of oxygen flowing to her brain hindered her better judgment on using her legs for a useful purpose other than hopelessly flailing about in the air. "Do something," she pleaded with a strangled voice.

Curse said nothing; he noted that his clones were nearing completion, even accounting for their singular loss. He knew that once the simple seal was finished, Fumetsu's grasp on the situation would deteriorate. The muscles in the boy's arms and legs began to shake and go numb as they were strained to their limits. "_Dammit,_" he cursed internally, "_Just a few more minutes…_"

Those few minutes passed like a thunderstorm in a rainforest; endlessly long. The Uzumaki's azure eyes glanced at the copies for what seemed the thousandth time and it didn't seem real to him when they painted the final strokes on the floor. Hinata's consciousness began to waiver dangerously when the ground beneath the exerted trio began to shake.

The Shadow clones nodded satisfactorily to each other when the chamber began to rumble and popped out of existence. The enormous seal, stretching from each corner of the room and converging in the center, gave off a faint glow as it activated. Tiles cracked into uncountable thousands of pieces and the grungy floor surged upwards a few feet, small canyons forming as the ground split apart in the wide explosion. Time stood still for a few heartbeats and the debris seemed to dangle in the air before falling back to earth.

The combatants also fell with the floor, which was now much farther down thanks to Naruto's backup plan. As the pair of geniuses tumbled, they searched each other out through the chaotic mess of descending rubble, latching on to the other when they maneuvered their way through the shower of tiles, rocks, and soil.

"You okay?!" the blonde shouted over the roar of the airborne landslide.

Silence coughed. "Yeah!" she answered, blushing ever so slightly at where Curse's hand was. She knew he didn't mean anything by it given their current situation, but still… it was nice.

A moment later the remnants of the unkempt floor crashed in a new, much larger chamber. While sailing through the air the Konoha duo saw some remnants of light that were quickly extinguished when the wreckage hit the ground and spewed forth a cavalcade of wind and dust, snuffing out what had to be candles. They stood amidst the craggy boulders and peered into the darkness.

"Damn," Naruto cursed, "Can't see a thing…"

"I can," the Hyuuga said, Byakugan easily piercing the void. She turned her head and peered through the dull azure mask to her right.

"_Seeing in the dark,_" the male prodigy wondered, "_First she can dispel genjutsu without even trying and now she can see in the dark without even having eye holes. I swear this sounds familiar…_"

"There," the girl's voice broke him from his revelry, "Fumetsu's over there."

"Is he standing?" he whispered his inquiry.

"Yeah," she answered with a hushed tone. "Wait a second… there's someone else…"

The blonde became alert; they were having enough trouble with one enemy. Two could be bad. His heightened senses picked up an odor that was out of place in the battlefield. "Is that…" he sniffed the air, "Alcohol?"

Hinata stopped and took a deep whiff as well. Sure enough, it was liquor. But why was it here? Was it related to the newcomer? Or had it been there all along and they hadn't noticed it until now? The blue haired girl shook her shrouded head to clear her thoughts and grasped her partner's hand. "Let's go."

"Yeah," Naruto returned quietly as his ally led him swiftly through the darkened chamber. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the lack of light but he considered himself blind as a bat; all he could really make out was the girl holding his hand running in front of him. For a split second he fantasized that he wasn't in a battle and was merely messing around having fun with Silence before the illusionary moment passed.

A minute of dodging and weaving through the forest of crumbling debris brought the prodigies upon the other presences in the room. The blonde, sadly, was still unable to see anything worthwhile, but at least he could hear the yelling and smell the cigarettes and booze.

The Hyuuga heiress didn't have that handicap, though; her bloodline revealed all. Her sharp eyes easily made out Fumetsu struggling to stand with broken legs. "_Did he have those wounds when we fell?_" she wondered, observing the clean cuts of the bones jutting from his lower limbs, "_Or were those inflicted by her?_" A sudden one-sided shouting match broke out between the strange woman and the immortal, answering her mental inquiry.

"You worthless fuck!" the newly arrived female screeched, "You're my second in command; can't you do shit?! Fucking worthless asshole!"

The undying assassin regarded her with cold eyes and held his chipped cutlass against her. "Why did you do this, commander?" he asked apathetically, "I merely lost the advantage for a moment, so why…?"

"Shut up, undead fuckface!" she shouted and planted a steel-plated boot in the prone man's face, knocking him back a few feet. "At least now I got a reason to kill you…" She undid a clip on her belt, released an attached glass bottle, and took a deep swig of the liquid within. The moment the bottle became upturned and she guzzled a mouthful of the stuff, she suddenly lurched forward and spewed forth a stream of flames, engulfing the assassin in a searing blaze.

The Jashin follower cursed mightily in a singular display of emotion as he convulsed in the fire, slowly burning. Another burst emerged from the brutal-looking woman's lips and all his frantic movement ceased as his head received the brunt of the attack and became nothing more than a cinder a moment later.

Now that there was a healthy fire, Naruto could see the assailant in the dancing light. She appeared to be in her early to mid-thirties and her deep crimson hair flowed chaotically down to the center of her back and hung loosely above her harsh amber eyes. She wore a sleeveless shirt that matched her hair and showed off the tough skin of her well-built arms. Her dark leather pants possessed so many studs that they appeared to be made of metal at first glance and were held up by a belt that had clean glass bottles of alcohol and cigarettes clipped on. Her ebony boots had a disorderly network of interconnecting steel plates screwed on and some kind of weapon was strapped to her back, but the boy couldn't make it out in the shadows.

"Takaimi, I presume?" the Uzumaki went out on a limb.

"One and the same, fucker," the woman answered, her lips contorted as if ready to spit at a moment's notice, "Curse and Silence?"

The Kohoha duo nodded, their tired muscles tensing for the ensuing attack.

"Let's get this shit over with." Takaimi withdrew an unfiltered cigarette from a crumpled pack on her belt, lit it over the flames that consumed Fumetsu, and took a deep pull from the oral fixation. "Let's rock, fuckers."

* * *

Takaimi's here! Yay.

Been looking forward to this battle myself, so I know you guys'll enjoy it (maybe... I can dream). Unfortunately, summer classes begin tomorrow, but they wont run as long until next month (I think). So, until August, updates will drop again thanks to school. Sorry, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

Now go review this chapter and tell me how much you love (hate) me!


	17. The Super Ultimate Mutual Asskicking!

Good night... longest... chapter... yet! Holy crap, who knew it would hurt this much?!

Anyways, even I was looking forward to writing this fight, and I'm pretty satisfied with it. Hope you enjoy it as well!

* * *

The instant Takaimi declared her hostile intentions, she sucked down the rest of the unfiltered cigarette between her lips then lurched forward, spewing forth a hail of burning ash.

Hinata shoved Naruto the opposite of her direction in mid-stride, narrowly avoiding the choking, burning fumes. She readied a pair of exploding stakes and took aim the instant she was out of harm's way, but stopped upon the realization that the foul-mouthed woman was no longer there.

"Hey!" Curse called from his position, almost totally blind from the lack of ample light, "Where is she?!"

"She's…" she focused her Byakugan and quickly located the female enemy, "Running away?"

"_That doesn't sound good…_" the Uzumaki thought, unsealing his favored ninjato in preparation. "Well, let's go get her!"

"You can't see…" Silence added in a tone that screamed 'you idiot'.

The blonde held his tongue and reeled back, collecting chakra in his chest. He then lurched forward and a heavy stream of flames that coated the walls erupted from his mouth. "Now," he stated with emphasis, "Let's go." His ally nodded and the Konoha duo took off as swiftly as they could.

As they pursued Takaimi, they noticed a light at the end of the chamber. The illumination cast from the apparent opening wasn't nearly enough to affect the enormous alcohol-choked room, but it was there nonetheless. The Hyuuga pushed her bloodline further to see ahead, but her superior vision was blocked by the solid stone surfaces. All she could see was through the fixed doorway; some kind of room that looked extremely familiar.

Meanwhile, Naruto strained his hidden azure eyes to gaze at the foreign threat. Despite the dim light behind him and the bright opening ahead casting the woman into silhouette, he got a somewhat clear view of her back. Her long unruly crimson hair danced and twirled in the wind, partially revealing the object strapped to her back. The undercover prodigy squinted to make out the device, taking several long seconds to determine why it appeared so familiar.

It suddenly hit him; a long time ago he 'borrowed' several books from the Konoha public library, one of which was a documentation on foreign cultures. One segment of this light reading covered music; apparently, in the far north, there was a form of musical entertainment coined 'rock and roll' by the local inhabitants, and one of the main instruments used in these performances was referred to as an 'electric guitar'. The blonde matched the basic shape of the numerous photos he had seen with the object attached to Takaimi, but hers appeared much bulkier.

An eternity of a minute passed and the opponent reached the opening and leapt upwards out of sight. The intelligent Genin approached the open doorway cautiously yet swiftly, knowing full well that they could be walking straight into a trap. With little hesitation, they charged through onto the waiting bridge and gasped.

It was yet another massive cylindrical chamber similar to the Hub in design with numerous stone walkways stretching across the deep pit and a handful of unceremonious granite pillars that spanned the length from top to bottom. But there was one major difference between the Hub and this vertical room.

The wires. All those wires. The metal strands lined the interior of the huge shaft, concealing at least half of the stone surfaces under endless coils of steel. Even the bridges and support beams were not spared; they were bound tightly by the extensive wiring, making their surfaces slick under the blonde prodigy's steel-plated geta sandals. Curiously enough, not a single metal strand stretched out into the open air; every inch was laid against a stone surface.

Hinata was jerked from her amazement when her pale bloodline eyes noticed a cavalcade of wires flinging across the opening she and Curse had just stepped through. Since she had no idea if this was an attack, a diversion, or merely a method to seal them in, she grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled hard as she leapt off their current bridge onto the landing below. They touched down and she released the boy who suddenly grasped her in a tight embrace and flung them even deeper.

For the second time in three seconds, the geniuses landed on another precipice. The blonde immediately let go of his partner, unsealed his dual broadswords, and swiveled on his heel. His gut told him that something was very, _very_ wrong.

Sadly for him, he was right. Takaimi, her metal covered boots slamming hard into the granite thirty feet away from the geniuses, swung the instrument from her back and jammed her arm down in a harsh motion. As if on cue, the room rumbled with a deep note and a gush of wind shoved the budding prodigies back a few feet. The foul-mouthed woman closed her amber eyes and, adopting a look that was decidedly serene, began playing a tune of distorted brutality that echoed mightily off the walls and vibrated through the wires with unmatched intensity.

The Uzumaki instantly recognized the telltale signs of chakra slicing through the air towards him and his ally. "_That's wind element!_" He pumped his own chakra into the dual blades in his hands and began an elaborate dance, barely combating the horizontal pendulums of air the spiraled his way. Every cut he made against the endless attacks merely bisected them, knocking them slightly off course as they split into smaller segments of bladed wind.

The Hyuuga easily saw what her ally was trying to do and grimaced; she had never been real handy with wind-based techniques. In fact, she was currently at a loss on how to combat Takaimi's efforts to kill them. The gears turned in her mind and she came to the sad conclusion that the only thing she could really do was stay put behind Curse; the fellow genius was able to partially divert the lethal winds and took the injuries inflicted upon him stoically.

Seconds ticked by endlessly. The cavern of granite and wires vibrated with the tunes of celebrated violence emanating from the foul-mouthed woman's deep crimson guitar, and the spiraling blades of air arced from the modified musical instrument with every harsh strum of the chords. The so-called music pulsing through the massive chamber was exhilarating; it only added to Naruto's adrenaline as he desperately moved to counter the lethal winds.

Takaimi's amber eyes opened as if she were struck with the realization that she was being distracted from the task at hand and, transitioning flawlessly, leapt high into the air and balanced herself on the edge of the bridge above the geniuses. Letting loose an energized smirk, she suddenly changed the tune. The granite walls shivered as new commands pulsed through the wires and the outcropping beneath the budding geniuses began to shake violently.

"What's goin' on?!" Curse shouted, glancing back and forth rapidly.

Hinata's pale eyes already knew the answer. "It's those wires!" she returned, "Their cutting into the bridge!"

Without further ado, the Konoha duo jumped from the doomed precipice onto another below, putting distance between them and their crimson-haired enemy. Moments later, the metal strands at the ends of the bridge compressed fully and the ensuing strain cracked the stone like it was dried pudding. The walkway tumbled into the pit, disrupting the prodigies' footing a bit as it smashed into their suspended landing before continuing its descent into the darkness below.

"So… distance is a bad thing," the blonde stated matter-of-factly.

"We gotta get close to her. Let's go."

The undercover geniuses began running up the wire-bound wall, intent on catching up with Takaimi as quickly as possible while ignoring the rumbling steel beneath their feet. Silence frowned for a moment and focused her Byakugan to find the foul-mouthed woman perilously perched at the edge of the highest bridge in the vertical chamber. "_That can't be good…_"

As soon as the blue-haired girl thought that, the tune changed again and the wires lining the oversized cylinder rattled dangerously. Naruto instinctively felt danger and grabbed his ally's arm before leaping off the wall. The next instant, a sickle of sharpened air surfed outwards from their previous position and missed their legs by a centimeter. They landed on a nearby bridge, away from the majority of the wires…

Then the stone walkway started shaking violently; it was also going down… along with four other suspensions above it. The Uzumaki swore under his breath and, knowing that he couldn't maneuver properly with his fellow genius in tow, released her arm.

Hinata understood the motion and spun off the doomed walkway onto the cylindrical wall, braced herself as she heard a change in tune, then launched herself back into the air, narrowly avoiding another massive blade of air protruding from the endless bail. Her superior vision noted that her partner was imitating her motions; weaving back and forth between falling bridges while slowly working his way up. She continued on this maddeningly repetitious pattern until she noted yet another change in tune.

The vertical cavern vibrated like never before and untold thousands of lethal blades of air arced from the metal strands, slicing through the stone bridges like an ax through plywood. Her surprised mind told her to take cover; the former outcroppings would absorb some of the damage while she, miracles aside, might be able to counter the remaining attacks with her family's patented style.

Unfortunately, she panicked when she noticed that Curse was unable to properly defend himself and took a huge dose of razor-sharp air to his body, spattering blood everywhere. The Hyuuga instinctively moved to maneuver herself in midair to the boy's side, but in doing so she neglected her own safety which merited the same fate for her. She felt a thousand needles stab into her as the blades of wind sliced into her soft flesh and flung her bodily fluids into wide arcs. She gagged, trying not to cough up blood into her mask as she 'stumbled' behind a section of falling rock and cemented herself in place with chakra. Her body went into autopilot as the effects of blood loss set in and her breathing went heavy as her now-automated mind instructed her to reach for her pack. She needed her specialized soldier and blood pills.

Naruto was having a similar ordeal; the fox's chakra would kick in and begin healing his severe wounds only to be rendered useless as more scythes of wind cut through him. He actually blacked out for a second during the immense pain and, upon awakening, found the ground at the bottom of the darkened pit to be much closer. "_Oh shit,_" his weary mind thought, "_Wait, where's Silence?!_" His head shot in every direction looking for his temporary ally, eventually locating her several meters away.

The blonde moved in closer to find the girl in bad shape. Noting that the wreckage-strewn floor was approaching rather rapidly, he wrapped his bloodied arms around Silence and positioned himself to hit bottom. His feet touched the uneven granite with a sickening crunch, and he immediately knew that something broke. He pushed that problem to the side and attended to his semi-conscious partner.

Hinata was absentmindedly searching for the necessary pills to replenish her blood and stamina, failing miserably. Her once-smooth azure mask now possessed a huge gash across the mouth, revealing cracked and bleeding lips while the rest of her uniform was in tatters, teetering at the edge of obscenity seeing as how it barely covered her unmentionables. What was visible of her pale skin was, more often than not, sliced to pieces. Some of the wounds were near-fatal, and the fact that she was still conscious was nothing short of an act of God.

Curse wasn't much better; his camouflage jacket had been torn completely to shreds and his crimson mask also sported gaping cuts. He was also cut up pretty bad; he held his side, totally convinced that if he let go, and organ or two would spill out. But he wasn't too concerned with his dire injuries; he had a bastard fox who worked at his beck and call during such moments. He dipped into a large chunk of the nine-tailed demon's chakra and his horrific wounds immediately began to smoke shut, albeit at an agonizingly slow rate. Attempting to ignore the searing pain, he liberated Silence from her task and began rummaging through her pack, finding what looked to be some standard blood pills. He gently pried the girl's bloodied lips open with two fingers and slipped the plasma-restoring medicine into her mouth. She began chewing and he nodded satisfactorily.

As the substance prompted the genius girl's system to produce more blood, active thinking returned to her mind and she tried to sit up before her body argued. In far too much pain to move, she resigned herself to simply lying there. Her bloodline snapped off and she sighed heavily, wincing at the action almost immediately.

"You gonna live?" the blonde inquired quietly. The bottom of the pit was pretty dark, and he didn't want to openly inform Takaimi that they were still alive.

She coughed lightly, spitting up blood while she was at it. "I… think so."

"Anything else in here?" He held her pack up.

"Soldier pills," she replied, too weak to go into any further detail.

A few seconds passed while Naruto fished through Hinata's bag. He pulled out a plastic tube, popped it open, and glanced into it. Satisfied that he found what he was looking for, he poured a few pills into his palm and fed them to his prone ally. The Hyuuga swallowed them and waited for the medicine to take effect before moving her shaky arms to her abdomen and beginning to heal her injuries.

"Chakra? Is that all you needed?" the Uzumaki stated with a hint of playfulness in his voice then moved his hands over hers, channeling some of the fox's energy into her healing techniques.

Silence didn't argue; she was dangerously low on the natural energy. She gladly accepted the kind gesture and worked on restoring the worst of her wounds. Afterwards, she planned on fixing up her partner when the boy spoke up.

"You still got injuries left," he said, "Heal those first."

"What?" she questioned him, her dazed state of mind not noticing the tiny wisps of smoke oozing from Curse's wounds as they slowly closed themselves. "No, no- you got some real bad…"

"No," he placed a hand against her chest to prevent her from rising, "You first. I can take it."

"But…"

"Trust me." he smiled, "I can handle this."

Hinata couldn't believe her rival's self-sacrifice. Furthermore, how could anyone be as hurt as him and still have the energy to be up and about? "_Now's not the time to think about that,_" she knew, "_Gotta concentrate on the task at hand._" She continued her own self-treatment.

--

Takaimi stood atop the highest bridge in the wire-bound chamber, gazing into the darkness of the pit below. She knew her opponents were still alive; she could hear their hushed whispers echoing through the endless bail of wires lining the cavern.

She was conflicted, a rare situation for her. On the one hand, Curse and Silence were enemies who would take her life if she didn't take theirs first. But on the other hand, they were still kids with their whole lives ahead of them. Besides, what would killing them accomplish?

She pondered over her choices while lighting another cigarette and taking a deep whiff from it. She could go down there and finish them off, wait here for them to return, or do absolutely nothing. Letting the nicotine run through her system, she opted out for the final option and took a seat on the suspended granite walkway. Bringing her modified guitar to her lap, she began playing a soft tune that gently echoed down the vertical chamber. Closing her harsh amber eyes, she recalled how this simple song originated: she used to play it all the time long ago whenever her daughter couldn't sleep.

"_I miss those days…_"

--

Sarutobi chewed on his pipe, a nervous habit that he thought had died ages ago. He had been resting peacefully that evening until he felt a faint rumbling beneath his feet. It was such a slight feeling that he doubted if any of the civilian population or even most of the lower level ninjas felt it, but he knew anyone with exceptional skills would have sensed it.

He sat with unease in his office, nodding at the elite shinobi as they appeared in the small room. The elder master ninja knew he didn't have to call for any of his subordinates; any shinobi he would have wished to speak to regarding this disturbing matter would have felt the need to see him anyway.

When the chamber became filled, he addressed the impromptu meeting. "You all felt that?" he asked simply, the gravity of the situation apparent in his voice.

"Yes sir," the general reply sounded.

"Good." His gaze never faltered. "I believe you already know what to do. Search out this source and report back to me."

A hail of acknowledgments was voiced and most of the elite inhabitants promptly exited, leaving behind a select three shinobi.

"Lord Hokage," Anko approached her superior, "This has to be Orochimaru's doing! We need to move _now_!"

"Patience, Anko," he attempted to console her, "We don't know if he's involved this time, although I pray he is. The last thing we need is another problem."

"But…" she began to argue.

"No 'buts'. I know how you feel about this, but now is not the time for an emotional outbreak. Dismissed."

The Mitarashi huffed and stormed out of the room. Kakashi watched her leave with a lazy eye, glanced at Kurenai to see if she was going next, and then spoke up. "Lord Hokage, It seems that these… incidents are becoming more numerous. The fact that all of us felt it is a sign that whatever 'it' is, it's becoming stronger… or something like that."

Sarutobi glared at the former ANBU captain, although he didn't mean to. "What would you suggest, Kakashi?"

"Several teams of ANBU agents to perform a thorough sweep of the village."

The aging man sighed. "You know I can't do that. Things are complicated enough with the Chunin exams and Orochimaru. We're already stretched pretty thin." He took a deep puff of his pipe. "This really couldn't have come at a worse time."

"I understand." The jonin turned to leave the room, pulling his infamous book out as he did so.

"Did you have some concerns as well, Kurenai?"

"Hm?" the Yuhi paused, lost in thought, "Oh, no sir. Mine were the same as Kakashi's."

"Very well. Dismissed."

The red-eyed woman waltzed out of the room behind the Hatake and passed his carefree pace with her swifter stride, glancing at him and making eye contact.

"Something on your mind?" the silver-haired man asked, never breaking his eyes from his adult novel.

"It's nothing," she shook her head, "Just worried about a student of mine."

"Really?" he lazily replied, somewhat intrigued that the fellow ninja was also having issues with a pupil. "Which one?"

"_He sure is talkative today,_" she mused for a moment before answering. "Hinata Hyuuga."

"I see." He fancied the idea of revealing his observations regarding Naruto to the woman before deciding against it. "What's to worry about?"

"Nothing, I suppose," she lied. "_I can't believe it! He's trying to pry information out of me._" By this point, the duo had reached the door leading to the outside world and she smiled at Kakashi. "Guess this is where we part ways."

"See you around," he looked up from his book and raised a palm in a pathetic attempt at a wave. "_She's hiding something. Could it be that Naruto's not the cause of any of this? Have I been looking in the wrong place all along?_"

--

A solid half hour passed as the two geniuses did nothing but sit in the darkness at the bottom of the wire-bound pit. They spoke little and instead focused on treating their injuries, many of which would have been lethal had they been inflicted a few centimeters in certain directions. Silence, with the aid of Curse's seemingly never-ending chakra, closed all but the most superficial of her wounds then turned her attention towards her temporary ally. She was amazed to find that the minor lacerations on his body had completely disappeared while the major problems had begun to rectify themselves. "_Good Lord,_" she mused as she ran her healing palms over the fellow genius, "_How much chakra does he have?_"

Naruto, while still channeling his chakra to his partner so she could work her magic on him, analyzed the situation in his mind. During the bombardment of slicing winds that put the Konoha duo in this state, there was a small tugging at the back of his skull, the quietest of whispers that gave him the feeling that he could reach out and… touch the chakra-laced air. "_Is it possible that my affinity is wind?_" he wondered, "_I never did test myself with the elements…_"

While the Uzumaki pondered this new quandary, Hinata activated her Byakugan for a moment to scan the vertical tunnel for any nearby exits. She grimaced and snapped her bloodline off when she found no openings close by; they all existed far upwards, very close to a waiting Takaimi. "_Why is she waiting?_" she inquired mentally, "_Does she want a challenge or something? Why didn't she come down here to finish us off when she had the chance?_" The girl then noticed a soft tune floating down the chamber; how had she not realized it before? Was she really that exhausted? And why was the foul-mouthed woman playing such a serene melody when, during the course of the short battle, she only played music that got the blood boiling? "_Everyone has a weakness,_" she stated inwardly, "_Could this be hers? And if it is, how…?_"

A few silent minutes passed and the blonde's final major injury- his fractured left leg- was healed enough to allow easy movement. He stood to his feet and helped his tired ally up, saying nothing as he did so. When the girl was up, he blushed slightly upon the realization that her destroyed clothing practically hung off of her without support. Why, a simple hard tug could remove it all… "_What the hell am I thinking?!_" he shook his head to clear his gutter of a mind, "_Now is not the time for that!_" He leaned in close to the fellow prodigy and whispered, "Did you see any exits nearby?"

"No," she wheezed as she sluggishly shook her head, "They're all up there, close to Takaimi…"

"Damn…" he swore and clenched his teeth. Aside from being stiff and sore, he felt up to the challenge the guitar-wielding enemy presented, but he could tell Silence was in no condition to fight. She needed rest and medical attention… badly. An idea struck him. "_This'll be risky…_" he knew, "_But I don't see any other way if she's going to survive._" He placed his hands on the blue-haired girl's shoulders to grab her attention. "I have a plan, but it's risky… really risky…"

"What is it?" she replied between gulps of air.

"I can channel some of my chakra into your system," he lied. It was actually the fox's energy; his had dried up long ago. "But I have no idea if there'll be any side effects or what they might be. If everything goes well, you'll have enough energy to fight, but…" he trailed off, considering the worst case scenario.

The Hyuuga understood the implication; it could also kill her. But really, was there any other way to confront a refreshed Takaimi and live through that mess again? "Do it," she said, weak voice full of resolution.

"You sure?" he asked, dredges of fear pulling on his mind if it should fail and his rival should die.

"Yeah. Do it."

"Alright," he sighed. He ran his fingers over some slick blood on his body, moved Hinata's tattered clothing over her abdomen to the side, and painted a seal similar to the one on his own stomach. It was fundamentally different in that it wouldn't trap anything within the confines of her soul, but the portion that would merge chakra into her system was still there. He invoked a particularly large surge of the fox's energy into his right hand, an action that he absolutely loathed, and gazed into his partner's hidden pale eyes. "Here goes." He slammed his palm into the temporary seal and squeezed his brilliant azure eyes shut when the girl's recently healed lips parted in a silent scream.

--

Takaimi sat atop her stone perch, still playing that soft melody that she never tired of and taking long gulps of whiskey when only one hand was needed during certain intervals. Upon polishing off the clean glass bottle she was working on, she tossed it over the side and, still plucking away at the chords of her deep crimson battle guitar, fingered a locket hidden under her messy shirt. It contained the only picture she had of her daughter when she was young and it was, next to her daughter, the most precious thing she possessed. She chuckled at the memory when she first bought the golden heart-shaped piece of jewelry; she, 'Hardcore' Takaimi, had finally stooped to motherhood despite being one of the strongest badasses in her arena. She sighed in remembrance of days gone by; her old home, her old crew, she left it all up north and brought her daughter in search of a better life. But then they met that bastard of a leader, and it all went to hell faster than she could chug alcohol.

She snapped out of her melancholic revelry when she heard sounds approaching her heightened position. She stood and glanced over the side of her granite bridge to find the young enemies nearing. "_Will they try to escape?_" she wondered, noting that they were coming up to the first wire-crossed exits. They passed the impeded openings without so much as a glance. "_Guess not. Looks like I have no choice…_" She brought her musical weapon to bear and, once again, began a melody that screeched with heart-pounding adrenaline, intense brutality, and absolute bliss.

--

Naruto was silently thankful that things went well. The chakra transfer didn't seem to have any ill effects on his ally, but she was still not up to full capacity. He didn't care to risk loading her up with the nine-tails' demonic energy in her weakened state, so he did the next best thing: carried her. Her legs were wrapped around his sides as he hefted her across his back. She could still use her arms and, in case of extreme emergencies, separate from him for a short period of time. "_Works out for the best,_" he mused happily, "_Now I don't have to worry about her getting caught in the crossfire… and she feels so damn soft, too…_"

"Wind's coming again!" Hinata shouted in his ear. She swallowed hard, nervousness beginning to manifest at her core. Curse had told her his revelation and, while brilliant and kinda cool, it would kill them if it failed.

The Uzumaki said nothing as he leapt off the wired wall in time to avoid being impaled by the air onto a suspended walkway that had survived the onslaught. In a single bound, he moved to the center of the outcropping and leapt up again, hoping that Takaimi's scythes of air couldn't reach the very middle of the vertical cavern. He began to twist in midair to protect himself and his intelligent charge when his prediction proved correct.

As the blonde carried her, the Hyuuga activated her bloodline to gaze at the enemy. She noted that, despite the fact that the blades of wind coursing from the wires were ineffective this time, the whiskey-guzzling woman didn't stop the tune. Instead, the opponent's harsh amber eyes were closed and a look of content was plastered on her face. "_Is she even paying attention to us?_" she wondered, "_Or is she concentrated on the music itself?_"

The tough commander's eyes snapped open in the suddenly realization that her current actions weren't working, and she shifted the tune to a familiar ear-busting melody. The wires wrapping around several bridges vibrated and tightened, cutting into the solid granite.

Hinata instantly recognized the aural change; the walkways were being forcibly removed again. "I think the attack that got us last time is coming up again!" she yelled, making her blonde rival wince.

"Got it!" he shot back as he continued the vertical bum rush. As predicted, the precipices crumbled from their positions and began to fall away, sending a hail of debris his way. He focused chakra into his legs and nimbly dodged the descending stone as it came, touching the walls only when he needed additional leverage; he didn't want a repeat of the veritable tornado of lethal winds again.

The tune shifted again and the blonde didn't need to recognize it in order to know what it entailed. As before, the wires rattled violently and an uncountable surge of deadly blades of air arced from the metal strings, slicing whatever was in their way.

"_Here goes!_" he thought as he focused on his feet and shot them out against the nearest scythe of wind. Concentrated solely on 'affiliating' with the chakra-enhanced air, whatever that meant, he threw a leg upwards, willing the nonexistent blade to follow a similar motion. Miraculously, it worked; the slicing spiral twirled upwards, colliding violently with untold dozens of its counterparts and throwing all of them off course. Of course, it was also diverted and eventually diminished to the point of worthlessness, but Curse was thankful nonetheless.

"It worked," Silence breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily ignoring the fact that many thousands of these arcs of wind still sputtered towards them. Her arms shot out and, with a combination of her dual stake launchers and Gentle Fist style, began to move the largest portions of falling granite into positions that best shielded the duo. It wasn't perfect, but it would help her ally immensely.

And it did. Naruto mentally thanked his attached partner for being his arms as he began a dance between the tumbling rocks and pulsing air, diverting as much of the deadly winds as he could with his armored feet.

As the unnerving minutes passed, Hinata once again activated her Byakugan to catch a glimpse of Takaimi. "_She really is caught up in the music,_" her sharp mind noted, "_That's it! She loves her music more than the fight! She gets distracted by it too easily!_" She considered sharing this revelation with the boy holding her to his back but squelched the idea. He was having enough trouble as is; he didn't need his attention distracted by something that was inconsequential at the moment.

The rubble that once made up several stone bridges passed, and the whirlwind of deadly air quickly followed suit. The Konoha duo knew that their hard-rocking opponent finally gave up on that method, but they continued their airborne climb towards the top of the wire-laden cavern with caution.

"You kids are good!" Takaimi shouted, putting a hold on her adrenaline-inducing music in favor of a cigarette and a bottle of whiskey. "Haven't had such a challenge since I tried to kill my leader!"

" Who's your leader?!" the Uzumaki yelled out, not really expecting an answer.

She didn't reply. Instead, her head fell back as she upturned the clean glass container of alcohol.

"Who is he?! Maybe we could help you kill him!" Hinata chimed in. Maybe the woman would be distracted if they could get her talking…

"Talk is cheap," the foul-mouthed guitarist muttered as she finished her drink and stuck the unfiltered cigarette between her lips. With a mighty inhale, she reduced the oral fixation to nothing in a second then lurched forward, spewing forth an amazing jet of searing flame.

Naruto leapt like a frog on acid to avoid the fires that flowed like water. "She's burning the alcohol with the cigarettes," he murmured, mildly impressed that she managed to disguise powerful techniques under the illusion of personal vices. He didn't have time to analyze the moves, though; Takaimi finished her unorthodox move and was prepping her heavy instrument for more 'music'.

"We need to get close to her," the Hyuuga whispered in the boy's ear, "We can't do anything to her from this range."

The blonde genius grimaced. He hated to admit it, but Silence was right; Takaimi's skills complemented themselves and her experience was obviously superior to their own. "Alright," he stated under his breath and channeled energy to his legs, "Here we go."

The instant his armored geta sandals left the stone, a violent gash of wind swept across the fire-strewn bridge, fanning the flames and engulfing the granite walkway with incinerating heat. He could barely see through the ebony smoke generated by the conflagration, and a feeling of worry washed over him due to the lack of sight.

Hinata sensed the slight spike of fear and snapped her bloodline on. She couldn't use it indefinitely, seeing as how the transferred chakra was limited, but she could at least help out this much. Lowering her lips to his ear, she began to quietly relay the necessary movements to the blonde prodigy.

Meanwhile, the booze-guzzling foreigner was completely entranced by her own melody. She knew it was a fault, but she couldn't help it; rock and roll was her life, her soul. In the old days before her pregnancy, she was solely defined by her battle-worthy tunes and their lethal tenacity. She was lost in the chords, ignoring the crystal clear sounds echoing through the wires' vibrations. At the moment, the only thing of any importance was finishing this song…

But that was not to be. Suddenly, Curse and Silence appeared from the dark smoke onto her precipice several meters away. The azure-masked girl aimed her right arm at her and a burst of steam erupted from the metal tubes belted onto the offending limb. Takaimi instantly, and awkwardly, slammed her fingers across the chords, invoking a heavily thrummed tune and a flickering dome of pulsing air that formed around her and rushed out, thrusting the oncoming stakes away.

"You survived all that?" the foul-mouthed woman stated simply, lips curled like they were about to spit.

Naruto didn't bother to reply before charging at the woman. He couldn't unseal anything since he carried his rival on his back, but that unusual setup allowed for several options in hand-to-hand combat.

As the Konoha prodigies approached, the foreign guitarist began a new melody- an incredibly fast-paced tune that echoed with amplified intensity against the many wires. A slew of slicing winds flowed towards the two, but to the Uzumaki who had recently dodged an attack hundreds of times more difficult, this was nothing. He swiftly sidestepped with the ease and grace of an experienced swordsman around the passing nonexistent blades and reached the target…

Only to have a solid fist slam into his chest and knock him and Silence back at least twenty feet. He skidded to a halt and willed himself not to fall over from the sudden lack of air in his lungs. "_Holy hell,_" he stated internally since taking simple breaths was now a trying task, "_She's strong…_"

"Curse," Hinata spoke up. She had felt the force transfer through her partner and also had the wind knocked out of her. "You okay?" He wheezed, nodding his head as he did so. The Hyuuga glanced up to peer at the enemy…

To find the woman standing right in front of them with the crimson guitar reeled back in preparation for a heavy strike. "Shi-!"

Silence didn't have time to complete the swearing before she and Naruto were violently knocked off the suspended walkway by the hardest object she had ever felt in her life. As the two tumbled to the next bridge, she winced at the pain in her side. "_Three broken ribs,_" she analyzed, suddenly realizing that since her rival was carrying her piggyback and she was struck from the side in the ribs, that would put the guitar around his neck or shoulder.

The genius girl didn't have time to catch the boy before slamming into the precipice below, further driving home her newly cracked bones. She mentally stifled the pain, rose to her feet, and stumbled over to the blonde. She approached him as he tried to stand and helped him up, observing his injuries with her bloodline before deactivating it. "_Dislocated shoulder, broken clavicle, and a crack in the scapula…_"

The Uzumaki grit his teeth as he painfully popped his joint back into place. "You okay?" he inquired, turning to gaze at Silence's masked face before his mouth dropped open in horrific surprise. "Look out!"

Hinata didn't have time to react to the warning before Takaimi, who had followed them in their agonizing descent, grasped her by the neck and threw her backwards onto the ground hard enough to cause the intelligent girl's body to bounce on contact.

"Silence!" the blonde shouted as he moved to unseal his ninjato and bring it down on the enemy in a singular motion. Unfortunately, the alcohol-guzzling ninja was ready for him; her steel-reinforced guitar was halfway in its overhead arc towards the boy's head. Curse only had enough time to move his skull out of the way before the instrument buried itself into his other shoulder, snapping his opposing clavicle in half as well as breaking the uppermost rib. He faltered and received a powerful steel-plated boot to the chest, once again emptying his lungs of air and sending him a dozen feet back.

Takaimi saw the boy hit the ground and struggle fruitlessly to stand. She then grasped the girl behind her by the leg and flung her into the prone prodigy. Despite her cold demeanor, this was a difficult endeavor for her. She was combating the one thing she had a weakness for- children. Ironically, if she didn't have a daughter herself, this wouldn't have been a problem, but it was not so. The logical portion of her mind was valiantly repressing her twisted morals as it commanded her to eliminate the weakened enemies before her.

"Time to end this," she stated lifelessly, bringing her guitar to bear. She charged an especially large amount of chakra into her musical instrument and shot her arm down in a powerful strum, ejecting an intensified scythe of slicing wind at the Konoha duo. It whistled through the air on the sounds of the guitar's sole chord…

And right into the waiting hand of Curse. The boy had shot up at the last possible instant and, with an obvious degree of pained exertion, grasped the lethal nonexistent blade. In a single motion, he spun on his heel, flipped the lethal chakra-induced air around, and flung it back at the foul-mouthed woman.

This time, Takaimi couldn't respond in time. That blast took extra effort to build up, so it was stronger. She didn't have the necessary seconds to build up another shot that could counter the backfired blade and she knew her legs weren't swift enough to move her body out of the way. Her instincts kicked in and she moved but, as the rational portion of her brain predicted, it was to no avail. The scythe of wind passed straight through her reinforced guitar and nearly bisected her, not doing so because the instrument took the initial blow. She immediately collapsed in an ever-widening pool of her own blood, her innards only staying on the relative inside due to gravity.

Naruto and Hinata worked their way over to the defeated opponent, their severe wounds protesting the entire duration. They approached the woman and gazed at something they had never seen on her worn face until now; resignation.

For the first time in a long while, Takaimi could feel her own cold tears running down her face. With a trembling hand, she reached for the locket hidden under her crimson sleeveless shirt, jerked it off her neck, and gazed at the faded picture within. "I…" she choked, the life fading from her raspy voice and amber eyes, "I never… got… to see her again…"

The Hyuuga recalled how almost every foreign opponent she had battled alongside her ally had a tale of misfortune. "_It must be the same for her as well,_" she thought. "Who?" she asked in a soft tone.

The dying woman's eyes never broke from her locket. "My… daughter," she was starting to go, "My sweet little Tayuya…" With that, the spark in her eyes faded and the hand holding the heart-shaped jewelry crashed to the ground. Takaimi had passed on, her final wish unfulfilled.

"Tayuya, huh?" Curse said, wincing as he bent over to pick up the ornament. He glanced at the old picture inside and handed it off to his weary ally.

Hinata gazed at the aging photo. In it, a little girl probably no more than five clung onto a Takaimi who looked to be twenty or so. Both sported ear to ear smiles, evidence of happier times. "Looks just like her," the intelligent girl commented as she pocketed the keepsake and wandered over to the wall, taking a seat with extreme care so as to not agitate her painful injuries.

Naruto did the same and sat next to her. His body screamed at his mind and he knew that a single night's sleep wouldn't make it go away. "So," he started, his voice heavy as it fought for air, "Will you be okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine. Just need some sleep…" As if by command, her fleeting consciousness left and she nodded off on her rival's shoulder, lost in unbiased slumber.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He wondered if any enemies would find them, but his exhausted mind reminded him of the desolation throughout the foreigner-controlled tunnels. "I guess it'll be fine…" He laid his masked head against the girl's and promptly drifted off to sleep himself.

* * *

Now that Takaimi's dead, I want you, the readers, to leave me some feedback on her as a character.

And I don't just mean 'She was cool!' or 'She sucked!'. I did my best to make her appear a certain way to you as a reader, and I want to hear how I did. What did you think of her personality? Her personal woes and weaknesses? Consistencies and inconsistencies? Gimme anything you can think of! I look forward to your insightful reviews!

Aw, man. I need a break! Did you know that Sprite and Rum is delicious? I do now! Partaaaay time!


	18. Things Just Got Real Complicated!

Quickest update yet for this fic. Probably going to hold the record, too. Then again, I had a blast writing this one. A lot of filler though, if you ask me. But my filler's good; unlike the anime, it actually _advances_ the story.

So enjoy.

* * *

Naruto found himself, once again, standing in a darkened waterlogged prison before a set of massive gates. He knew this place well, and he absolutely hated it. It was the source of his freakish healing abilities and inhuman stamina, but it also served as his sole source of pain. Peering into the glaring crimson eyes above, he stared down the nine-tailed fox behind its bars.

"**Back again so soon?**" the demon's thunderous voice roared, "**Haven't you had enough, boy?**"

Curse glared daggers at the evil entity. "You know the drill. Give me some more chakra so I can heal myself."

The environment shook as the fox laughed. "**Heal yourself? Foolish child, who do you think heals you in the first place?**"

The Uzumaki didn't reply to the jibe. "Give me more chakra now," he demanded calmly.

"**Fine,**" the demon chuckled as its unholy energy pooled from the cage and surrounded the boy below. "**But remember this; you do not control me. I merely keep you alive so that I may have a chance to escape this accursed seal.**"

"Whatever," the blonde waved off the threat as he felt the newfound chakra seep into his physical body. "I can keep that seal up forever…"

The scenery rumbled violently as the fox laughed heartily at such a bold comment. "**Foolish child! You know nothing of the world and what resides in the shadows!**"

"_In the shadows…?_" he wondered.

"**And when you come to understand how futile it is to resist, I will be free once again!**"

Naruto sneered at the cryptic message and strode away from the large cage as the water sloshing around his feet rippled and splashed against the roaring laughter of the demon fox. "In the shadows…" he murmured to no one, "Did the fox just give me a hint?"

When the boy was out of sight, the ancient evil force huddled into a comfortable position, still chuckling to itself. "**And I'm sure the ancient one will make you realize that, boy. He's closer than you think… I can smell him…**"

--

Curse's hidden azure eyes shot open as he jolted to reality. He immediately noticed his rather intimate sleeping setup with the female rival and thoughts of unmasking her flooded into his now active mind. A few seconds ticked by as he mulled the idea over in his head and he reached his aching arm around to grip the dull blue visage…

Only to have a soft hand shoot up and grasp his wrist with determination. "What're doing?" a weary voice floated from Silence's sore lips as they upturned into a small grin. "I'm not letting you off that easy…"

"Fine," Naruto sighed, clambering to his feet despite his protesting bones. He rolled his arms in their sockets to gauge the damage. "_Their not totally healed, but another surge of chakra outta do the trick._" Deciding to analyze the defeated enemy's equipment, he limped over to Takaimi's bisected guitar and picked it up, turning the separate pieces over in his hands as he did so. A large section of the bulky steel lining the instrument clattered to the ground as gravity took its toll, revealing a small patterned groove on the inside. "Hey, check this out." He glanced at the insignia then casually tossed it to Hinata.

The Hyuuga caught the piece of metal from her seated position, fractured ribs still screaming at her to not move. "Huh," she examined the familiar smooth indent, "This is the mark of the Sound village."

"Yeah…" the Uzumaki stated absentmindedly, recalling Orochimaru's assault on his team during the second portion of the Chunin exams. He had been playing possum while the legendary ninja was partially unmasked, and he had burned the distinct village insignia into his memory. "Orochimaru wore a Sound village headband."

"Orochimaru?" Silence inquired, surprised to hear that name repeated. Lately, Shiori and Ichirou had been recording conversations within the Hokage tower mentioning the rogue shinobi. "He's a pretty hot topic in the village right now. What do you think his affiliation with the Sound village could be?"

"Dunno," he shrugged, wincing from his cracked collar bones. "He's a Sannin, so I'd expect him to be the one calling the shots, but I'd rather not assume anything. It'd be bad if he was just a subordinate and we didn't know it." He paused, lost in thought. "You think there's any way to confirm it?"

Hinata nodded, recalling the other party most often involved with the Hokage when it came to discussing the snake master. "Yeah. There's this one ninja: Anko Mitarashi. She seems to have a history with him. I'll bet she could tell you."

Curse mulled the familiar name around in his head as he collected the scattered pieces of Takaimi's musical weapon and sealed them into the vanishing tattoos on his back. Without a word, he then waltzed over to the Hyuuga and carefully lifted her into his arms, his slowly healing bones arguing at the motion. He started leaping across the battle-worn bridges in search of an exit, locating one rather easily this time around.

"Alright," he stated, fighting the nagging temptation to sneak a peek under the girl's tattered clothing, "Call those freaks of yours to pick you up at the Hub."

"The Hub?" She didn't know the tunnels had names.

"Uh… that shaft where we usually meet up."

"Ah," she responded, tapping the tiny wireless device at the side of her damaged visage and sending a distress signal to her hidden chamber.

"_It shouldn't be too late outside,_" the blonde mused internally, "_I think it's time to pay a visit to that snake lady…_"

As the Konoha duo departed from the scene of the tremendous battle, a pair of eyes observed them from the shadows. The apathetic irises of the moist sensory organs watched the youths with intense and uncaring concentration, noting their physical states as well as their psychological reactions to the situation placed before them.

The disembodied eyes moved like phantoms through the darkness, following the path of the prodigies until they went their separate ways. "_So the commander of this recon force has been removed by these two. The boss will be quite interested to witness their growth…_" With that, the anomaly known as Sten vanished entirely from the known network of tunnels.

--

As the night sky dissolved into a pristine violet upon the sun's arrival over that portion of the world, Anko Mitarashi arrived home after a fruitless evening's search for the odd that pulsed throughout the village many hours ago. She was tired and hungry. "_I'll wolf some dango and juice down,_" she mentally prepared a course of action, "_Then hit the hay… holy shit!_"

The special jonin all but hit the ceiling as she passed through her living room on the way to the kitchen, almost not even noticing the menacing stranger sitting in absolute silence on a table in front of the couch. "Who the hell are you?!" she shouted, knives at the ready.

"Keep your voice down," Curse ordered, completely unfazed at the threatening gestures presented against him, "The neighbors will hear you."

"Identify your- mmf!"

Anko couldn't believe it. Here she was, an elite jonin of the hidden Leaf village standing in her own home with weapons drawn and this absolute stranger, in the blink of an eye, had traversed the space of the room, restrained her arms, and covered her mouth simultaneously. "_Who is this guy?!_"

"I told you to be quiet," the Uzumaki repeated, "Now, will you be good and stop yelling?" He received a begrudging nod and released his hand from her mouth. "_Phew,_" he sighed internally, "_Glad she didn't put up a fight. My wounds still haven't healed completely…_"

"What do you want?" she asked in a demanding tone, moving away from the stranger with kunai blades still drawn. "Who are you?"

"You can call me 'Curse'," Naruto replied, taking a seat on the table once again. "And before you freak out, I'm only here to confirm something."

The sweets-lover arced and eyebrow but didn't move otherwise. "What?"

"You're familiar with Orochimaru, right?"

"_What?!_" her inner self shouted. "How do you know about him?! Only the Hokage and…"

"I said to be quiet," Curse held up an open palm to interrupt her, "And it doesn't matter how I know about him. All I need to know is what his affiliation with the Sound village is."

The Mitarashi frowned, recalling her unpleasant dialog with her former backstabbing master in the forest of death. "I think he's the leader."

"Are you sure? How do you know that?"

"He said…" she paused, struggling to remember the man's exact words, "'About three from my village…'"

"I see," Naruto said, taking all this new information in jovially. "Well, that settles that matter."

"Now, who are you exactly?" she threatened, flinching to show her preparedness.

"Hold on, one thing at a time." He reached to the seals on his back and unleashed the pieces of Takaimi's guitar, carefully setting them down before him and pushing them together to present a complete picture. "Does this ring a bell?"

Anko stared at the broken crimson instrument, something nagging at the back of her mind. She had forever cursed Orochimaru for wiping her memory, but occasionally a certain object, location, or event would jar her subconscious, invoking a lost recollection. "_This… looks so familiar…_" she strained her eyes and her head started to hurt, "_Have I seen this before? Where was it…_" Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she yelled, "Takaimi! Commander Takaimi!"

The undercover genius smiled under his hastily repaired mask. "Yeah, that's right. Did you know her?"

She shivered at the mere mention of the woman's name. She didn't know the chain-smoking warrior well, but everything she did know wasn't good. "She was… very harsh…"

"Do you know what she was doing here?"

"She's here?" the special jonin whispered, horrified that such a terrifying woman was in the same village as her.

"Well… kinda. She's…" he thought about how to word it, "Indefinitely indisposed. I'm just wondering why she and her troops were here."

"There were others?" she spoke under her breath. Her mind was aflutter with an unprecedented surge of memories regarding the guitarist. "Uh… she… tried to assassinate Orochimaru… with a bunch of others. They failed then… disappeared… I think…"

Curse nodded; he was content with this answer. He began resealing the destroyed weapon back into his tattoos before rising to his feet. He went for the window and turned back to face the flustered woman. "I would appreciate it if you don't tell anybody about me or our little chat today. Life will be a lot simpler that way." He smiled brightly, hoping his benevolent threat got through to the snake charmer.

"Wait… who are you?" she cried, still reeling from the recent influx of memories.

"Just a friend who doesn't exist." His smirk grew from ear to ear. "I'd like it to stay that way, unless you'd like a shorter life…?"

Anko was rendered speechless; she merely nodded her understanding.

"Good. Later." With that, the prodigy shimmered from view as the sun began to peak over the horizon.

The Mitarashi, still in a daze, strolled into her kitchen and started going through the motions preparing some of her favorite sweet snack food. She poured a cup of juice and stared at it. "Screw that," she said to no one, "Where's the sake?"

--

Jiraiya, per usual, was viewing a gaggle of young women through his trusty spyglass, drooling a veritable waterfall. The true reasons behind his 'research' were rooted deep in misfortune and would haunt him until the day he died, but he paid them little mind as often as he could.

Behind the aged pervert, Naruto struggled to summon an actual frog for the millionth time while causing a ruckus. While this had been established as routine by now, the toad master had his suspicions. "_He was tired when he showed up this morning,_" he mused as he peered through the lenses at a particularly well-endowed woman in a swimsuit, "_Judging from the veins in his eyes and shortness of breath, I'd say he's only had a few hours of sleep, tops. He couldn't be working on the summoning technique at home; such an advanced move would leave telltale marks in his chakra system. So why is he exhausted? What's he been up to?_"

Deciding to see how capable his impromptu pupil was, he came up with a risky idea that, if successfully executed, would have a huge payoff. He ordered the boy to follow him and, after a short trek, positioned him nearby a seemingly bottomless cavern carved by the numerous waterfalls in the area. He vaguely informed the blonde on what needed to be done and promptly shoved him into the chasm.

As predicted, the outcome was indeed beneficial. As if it were nothing, the boy summoned the greatest of toads, Gamabunta. The Sannin was impressed with the lad's performance but had a difficult time believing that Naruto invoked the boss frog himself on mere luck alone. "_I couldn't summon Gamabunta until years after signing the toad contract. It only took him less than a month, and he started with frickin' tadpoles. Something's up._" He sighed. "_The question is, what?_"

--

Hinata slept well into high noon, attributing her uncharacteristically lengthy slumber to a revival in her injuries incurred during the preliminary exams. Of course, this wasn't a complete falsehood; her fractured ribs inflicted by Takaimi warranted bed rest and she was more than happy to utilize the fact that Neji 'kicked her ass' in order to get away with oversleeping.

Before committing to extensive rest with the early morning sun, she had consumed a cocktail of drugs she prepared in order to promote extreme blood production and calcium growth as well as act as a sedative and painkiller to help her sleep and ward off the sharp pain.

When she awoke, the sun had begun its gradual descent in the sky, signifying the arrival of the afternoon. She toyed with the idea of rolling over and going back to sleep when she was informed of a visitor.

"_Oh great,_" she whined internally, sour mood affecting her temperament, "_If it's Kiba coming to 'check up' on me again, I'm gonna spay and neuter him on the spot…_" She waltzed down the maze of identical hallways until she reached the courtyard reserved for guests.

"Hinata," Kurenai broke the girl from her thoughts as she approached the undercover prodigy, "How are you feeling today? Shino and Kiba came by earlier and told me that you weren't feeling well."

"I-I'm fine," she coughed, "I-it must be a r-relapse…"

The Yuhi smiled to thwart the frown she almost conveyed. "_What happened to her mouth?_" She noted the tightness in her charge's usually soft lips and filed it away for later. "Is there something you want me to get for you? Some sweets or something…?"

"I-I'll be f-fine," she really wanted to hack up a lung, "I j-just n-need to rest."

"Alright," she placed a gentle hand on the shy girl's shoulder, "I'm sorry for waking you. Go rest up and get well soon."

"Y-yes." Upon stuttering that, Hinata turned and left with short, nervous steps.

The genjutsu user peered after the girl until she was out of sight then made way for the compound gates to leave. "_Were those new injuries?_" she wondered, thinking back to the unusually taut skin apparent in several places on her student's lips and arms. "_She didn't have those the other day, but such large portions like those don't heal in a day._" She shook her head, waving her slick hair back and forth. "_Maybe I'm looking too deeply into this. Maybe those aren't wounds at all… but her skin is usually so smooth. Why is it not today? Could it be scarring? Damn it all!_" she cursed internally in her frustration, a rare occurrence for her calm and collected self, "_Why can't I figure this out?!_"

While Kurenai beat her brains out attempting to decipher the Hyuuga's complex secret, the blue-haired girl strolled back into her room while carefully avoiding all the other members of her family. When she re-entered her chamber, she uprooted the mat that covered the entrance to her secondary lab, her much smaller home away from home… from home. "_Been a while since I've been down here,_" she mused as she squeezed through the cramped horizontal doorway and flipped on the displays to the outside of her room and adjoining hallways. She set up those hidden cameras so she would have plenty of time to evacuate the secret room in case someone came to bother her.

She didn't feel like doing too much today, merely checking up on her numerous espionage devices placed in various portions of the village would do. First up, she dialed in to the monitors lining the Hokage tower. "_Nothing new here…_" she mused as she flipped the channels to the hospital, a glimmer of hope that someone with injuries similar to Curse would show up. "_Nothing here either…_"

After a while she began to grow bored. Seemingly nothing was out of the ordinary today. She switched the monitors to the final 'stop' on her list; the hive underneath Konoha. Since the place was so desolate, video feeds were pretty much worthless and audio was rare enough to warrant not wasting sensitive microphones, so that left receivers that could pick up a wide range of radio transmissions. This was how Shiori and Ichirou detected the underground Sound army, so she prayed that something new would be on these bands.

Her pale hand slowly cranked the dial, stopping every few seconds to allow the frequencies time to clarify. Not much here either, mostly static. She sighed and was about to switch her equipment off when a stutter in the white noise halted her actions.

"Juren… HQ… come in," a voice popped and sputtered on the sketchy band.

"HQ… copy… find anything?"

"…thing… Fumetsu's body… commander…"

"Negative. Still…" the line hissed for a moment.

"Understood. All squads… report…"

"Squad nine… nothing…"

"Team… here either…"

"Squad… that's a negative…"

Hinata listened to a stream of teams continue to report in the negative. "They're looking for something…" she concluded quietly, "Or someone…" She hushed up and continued to hear out the broken chatter. After a few more minutes, the formality in the many voices died out and suddenly carried worry.

"Dammit… Takaimi?"

"…know… anything… Karin?"

"Nope…"

"Shut… fucking loyalist!"

"You shut…"

"Temper, temper…

"Garaza… that loyalist…"

"Why?" a girl's voice came through clear for once.

"Takaimi's gone… where… do what we want!"

"Has any… found commander…"

"Where's Takaimi?"

The Hyuuga grew tired of listening to the undercover Sound force's bickering. "_This is good,_" she smirked to herself, "_Now that Takaimi's gone, their leadership's not there to hold them together anymore. They're falling apart…_"

On that note, she cut the feed and clambered out of protected pit with the intent of sleeping some more.

--

"Kabuto," Orochimaru addressed his subordinate in his usual sleazy tone, "Have you heard any news from our dear reconnaissance force?"

"Yes sir," the treacherous medic replied, adjusting his glasses as he did so, "They claim that they've mapped out the tunnels underneath Konoha and have pinpointed strike points for vital locations within the village."

"Hm…" he licked his lips with that disgustingly long tongue of his, "Did you hear this from Takaimi?"

"No sir. I spoke to her second in command, Fumetsu," he replied. He had heard rumors that a believer in the murderous Jashin religion followed the snake Sannin's command, but he had never seen or even spoken to the man until today.

"Really?" The legendary ninja had expected the foul-mouthed woman to personally check in with him, seeing as how he had the upper hand over her.

"Yes. He has assured me that everything is going according to your instructions."

"Good, good." Orochimaru doubted that. After all, the recon force was comprised of brigands and cutthroats who had tried on numerous occasions to kill him or at least undermine his absolute authority. "Then give the word for their reinforcements to move. I want that army complete and ready to move out on time."

"Yes, my lord." He bowed slightly then swiftly departed the scene.

"Ah, Takaimi…" the slithery shinobi said to no one, "You remember our… agreement… do you not? I certainly hope you don't try anything reckless." He chuckled to himself at the remembrance of the 'deal' struck with the woman who came close to slaying him once.

--

A shimmering light of every possible and even a few impossible colors bathed an otherwise dark room with swimming illumination. Before this light stood four solitary figures that watched intently as the scene with the snake Sannin unfolded. When the backstabbing ninja ordered his underling away, the cascading illumination swallowed itself and disappeared from reality, casting the large chamber into relative darkness.

"It seems Orochimaru has been fooled," Sten commented, stating the obvious.

"Quite a brilliant… ploy…" the man in the faded blue suit continued as he adjusted his tie, "Exercised by his own subordinates."

"It certainly seems that way," the purported leader of the small group said with a simple smile. "He's sending reinforcements who are loyal to him to his reconnaissance force which mostly opposes him. What do you make of it, Sten?"

The hooded man considered the quandary for a moment with an impassive face. "The recon force is stronger than an average ninja force. Since they lied to Orochimaru, it can be assumed that they have no intentions of helping him. Rather, they seem inclined to dispose of him and anyone associated with him."

"And what do you believe the result shall be?"

Once again, a minor silence. "The reinforcements will be slaughtered."

"Excellent deduction, Sten," the shadowed man clapped his hands together; "I believe your prediction is accurate to the letter. Now gentlemen," he addressed all three individuals before him, "This reconnaissance force is dangerous to Konoha regardless of its affiliation. It is comprised of cold-hearted murderers and killers who could care less about human life. Furthermore," he began to pace around the large room, "They are not supposed to be here in the first place."

A man wearing a pristine porcelain mask that flowed across the features of his face like water cocked his head slightly. He never spoke, so his actions revealed volumes about his thoughts.

"Of course, of course," the man instantly understood the gesture as an inquiry, "We did not possess a contract with the elders of Konoha when that force was stationed here so long ago, meaning that we had no obligation to eradicate them. But now that they pose a threat, the terms of the agreement dictate that we handle the situation quietly." He eyed his men with benevolence and a small smile. "Are there any questions or concerns?"

No answer. They understood perfectly.

"Excellent!" He turned to the emotionless hooded man. "Sten, I believe your talents alone are enough to quell this threat."

"Yes sir," he replied, nodding his head.

"And my… role?" the pale man in the suit interjected, curious about his job.

"Please assist the good doctor in obtaining whatever he requires; your assistance is invaluable with acquisitioning valuable goods."

He hummed and adjusted his tie again.

The stranger in the liquid ivory mask ticked his head ever so slightly to the side.

"Phantos, please continue in your work to keep our associates from intruding into our organization's separate dealings. It is poor business practice to allow conflicting partners to intermingle…"

--

Anko stood in front of her bathroom mirror, staring herself down with bloodshot eyes. Despite polishing off an entire bottle of sake, she couldn't sleep. Instead, her aching head swam with the encounter with the man known as Curse.

"_Who is he?_" she wondered, splashing cold water on her face in an attempt to dull the headache, "_Even better, what does he want? He wanted to know Orochimaru's connection with the Sound, and he obviously knows more about that old bastard's plan than any of us…_" A sudden realization struck her. "_Wait! He knew about Takaimi and he knew about her being in Konoha! That's a hell of a lot more than what the Hokage's dug up! Is he an operative? A double agent maybe? No…_" she caught herself with the foolishness of that statement, "_He would've already known the answer to his question if he was. So… what does that make him? Is he an ANBU? Couldn't be; he threatened me to keep quiet…_"

She began to pace around her humble apartment, lost in thought as she went through an automated set of movements in preparation for duty. "_Could he be an outside threat? That would explain why I've never seen him around, but why would he be interested in taking down Orochimaru? Or does he want to join him?! He never said…_" She recalled the broken instrument and put two and two together. "_No; he had Takaimi's weapon. That probably means he took her down… so that means I'm back to square one._"

"Argh!" she scrubbed her head roughly with her hands in frustration. "Who is he?!" She didn't realize she was outdoors until she starting hearing the murmurs of the civilian traffic.

"What the hell?"

"What's she doing, mommy?"

"Oh, it's just that freak…"

"_Crap…_" the Mitarashi realized she was so lost in thought that she reached a new plane of existence as far as distractions went. She started scratching her head and laughing like an idiot. "Nothing to see here folks! Move along!"

"Weird…"

"That's… interesting…"

"Crazy bitch…"

She bared her teeth, not so much at the demeaning crowd but rather at her own display of foolishness. "_This is your fault, Curse! Now I've gotta find you…_"

--

The days passed slowly in Konoha, at least, for the residing ninjas it did. The village was at one of its busiest times of the year; the final round of the Chunin exams was one day away. Perimeters had to be secured and patrolled endlessly, massive influxes of foreign ninjas and feudal lords had to be managed with utmost care, and casual spectators flooded the local markets and hotels in preparation for the big day.

Sarutobi was feeling restless. Despite his superior status, even he felt the changes around him. The endless paperwork had easily doubled, perhaps tripled; he wasn't too sure. "_All I know is there's too much damn reading and signing…_" he complained internally, his hand starting to cramp from so many stamps and signatures.

He sat back in his chair and decided to take a well-deserved break. Standing and starting towards the comfortable break room, he unearthed his pipe and stuffed some tobacco in it. When he sat down on one of the couches, he lit the calming substance and took a deep pull, relaxing his old bones as the nicotine coursed through his veins. Now that he had time to himself, all his worries came crashing down on him at once.

"_How many things could go wrong tomorrow?_" he wondered, exhaling a chord of ivory smoke, "_First there's Orochimaru; God only knows what he's up to. If anything should happen to the nobles in the village, there could be an international incident. Hell, it could even start another war._" He grimaced at that idea. "_And on top of that I have those strange feelings on my plate. I pray that those surges of chakra are only Orochimaru's doings. If they turn out to be a separate threat, I won't know what to do. We're already stretched too thin; if there's another outside hostility… things could get bad. Real bad._"

He polished off the tobacco in his pipe and reached for more, finding he had misplaced his bag. Frowning, he dug deeper into his cloak then saw the felt container lying on the table before him. "Did I put that there?" he muttered, extracting more of the oral fixation from it, "I really am getting old." He lit the stuff, took another whiff, and puffed out a brilliant cloud of hot mist. "_I just can't help but feel that something bad will happen tomorrow… whoa…_" He suddenly felt dizzy and blinked to clear his head. It didn't help, and the vertigo only intensified. "Poison?" he whispered in a panicked hush as his body began to go numb and stiffen to the point of being paralyzed. Fear course through his body when he realized he had become completely immobile in the isolated room.

"Sorry about that," a soft voice spoke quietly into his ear. A person- a young girl if basic appearances were worth anything- wearing a bizarre suit with strange mechanical and electrical devices walked around in front of him and swiped the bag of faux tobacco from the table. "Don't worry; this stuff will wear off in a few minutes. Here's your snuff back." She shoved the real bag back into his tunic, took a casual seat on the furniture in front of him, and then pulled out a syringe. "Don't worry about this either," her easygoing tone reassured, "It's to help you forget about this encounter. Oh," she cried, "Sorry. I'm called Silence. You're not going to remember that, but you've been kinda curious about me and my… friend… for a while."

Hinata giggled to herself; that was the first time she, or anyone at all for that matter, had referred to Curse as her friend. She eased the needle into Sarutobi's arm and injected the serum, healing the prick in his skin when she was finished. Her smooth azure mask peered up and her pale bloodline eyes noticed the Hokage's eyes fluttering. "_Good, this stuff's working so far._" It was similar to the hypnotism drug she had used on Hanabi a while back, but much more potent and selective. She was hoping it would have the effect of imprinting data into an individual's mind while erasing the encounter in which said person received information.

"Listen very carefully," she stated flatly, holding the old man's head level with hers, "There are a few things I need to tell you about some tunnels beneath Konoha…"

She _really_ hoped her drug worked and the aged ninja remembered what she told him. Otherwise, her little visit would be in vain…

* * *

What is the fox talking about?

Will Anko ever find Curse again??

And will Jiraiya score big time with the ladies??

Stay tuned for the answers and much more next time! Hahah... I gotta do these retarded lines every so often; I enjoy them too much.

So, have I blown any minds yet?


	19. Even More Downtime! Dinnertime!

Phew. Took time out of my busy-arse weekend to finish this. Must work on Animation homework... due Monday!!

Enjoy.

* * *

The trees and their green foliage whizzed by in a smear as a certain neon orange-clad ninja leapt from branch to branch in search of his quarry. Sakura followed closely behind Naruto while the undercover genius's mind raced.

"_The Sand, too?_" he thought, honestly taken by surprise that the siege of Konoha was a joint invasion. "_Can't say I saw that one coming…_"

The day had started out innocent enough. The Uzumaki made his way to the main stadium in the morning, resisting the urge to pet Hinata on the head when he ran into her on his brief journey. The blonde promptly kicked the popular event off with his initial match against Neji Hyuuga, a self-proclaimed prodigy. Curse had to stifle guffaws of laughter during his competition; his white-eyed opponent had so many holes and flaws in his 'superior' fighting style that it was hilarious.

Afterwards, the fights continued on while Sasuke Uchiha arrived late… really late. "_Goddamn prick!_" Naruto screamed mentally, knowing full well that the Sharingan user should have been disqualified several times over but received special treatment. "_All because of that damn bloodline! I swear,_" he promised himself, "_If I ever get the chance, I'm gonna pluck those eyes outta his head!_"

During the spoiled orphan's match with the psychotic Sand shinobi, said demented ninja transformed. The blonde instantly recognized the change in relation to Gaara's demon and fought back the instinct to interrupt the mock battle. Instead, he noted the general mood of the crowd and found it to be shifting; something was about to happen…

And it did. It turned out that Orochimaru had somehow coerced the hidden Sand village to cooperate with his own forces in the destruction of Konoha. Gaara was, apparently, the ace up their sleeve, but he suffered a bit of a breakdown and was escorted away by his siblings. Naruto, still keeping his cool and acting like his usual idiotic visage, followed Kakashi's orders to back up Sasuke, who had pursued the Sand's demon container.

The blonde genius sniffed the air and smelled blood; the Uchiha was nearby. He quickened his pace and, soon enough, the exhausted Sharingan user came into view. The spoiled boy was lying prone before a semi-transformed Gaara and his chakra was almost completely depleted despite the curse seal.

The Uzumaki smirked to himself; today he could upstage Sasuke, and he wouldn't even have to reveal his true nature!

--

About halfway through Neji and Naruto's fight, Hinata felt several dire presences dotting the arena. She eased her Byakugan on for only a moment and immediately saw quite a number of foreign shinobi. "_There's too many here,_" she mused, knowing that there was no way in hell the Hokage would authorize this many non-native ninjas. "_And they're trying to conceal themselves. This… isn't good…_"

She decided that preparation for this soon to be invasion took precedence over the match before her and feigned her old 'injuries' left over from her elder cousin. Of course, this attracted Kiba's attention as well as one of the hidden hostiles. The ANBU imposter 'healed' the Hyuuga, unaware that her internal wounds had only been induced mere seconds before he attended to them, and then rendered her unconscious along with the Inuzuka.

Naturally, Hinata's skills were superior to this level of trickery and she simply lied still while the intruder walked away. When the sounds of real warfare began ringing in her ears she scurried away in the confusion, easily fooling every combating ninja along the way due to their preoccupied state. She silently slipped down alleyways and dark narrow corridors until she eventually came upon the abandoned warehouse standing over her secret lab.

She descended into the chamber, changed into her alter ego's outfit, then entered the adjacent hive of tunnels to attempt thwarting what she now knew was some kind of advance reconnaissance force sent by Orochimaru. Her bright mind understood that the strangers dwelling within the dim caverns were a huge threat regardless of village affiliation, and only she and Curse were aware of how bad things could get if they were left unchecked on this day in particular.

Advancing slower than usual, careful to conceal her presence as best she could, she patched the receiver in her ear in to the radio in her private room. Shiori and Ichirou were standing by, keen ears glued to the many audio monitors that lined the tunnels. Hinata knew Curse might already be busy, so she wanted to be prepared for combat on her own.

As she approached the Hub she smelled smoke and charred flesh. "_There's fighting down here, too?_" she wondered, flattening herself against the many shadows as she worked her way forward. The familiar light of the desired junction began to flood the passageway and her pale bloodline eyes easily picked up everything with perfect clarity.

She flinched when she noticed someone flash in front of the doorway, casting the briefest of shadows on the ground before her. Readying her stake launchers, she rushed to the entrance and peeked through…

To find a veritable war zone. Bodies were strewn and draped everywhere, obviously former devout followers of Orochimaru given their dull grey garments. Her superior vision also noticed quite a few living inhabitants in the never-ending shaft rooting through the bodies, picking them clean of weaponry and killing off any survivors. These people belonged to the reconnaissance army; they had no standard ninja gear and dressed as they pleased. The Hyuuga stiffened.

"_I can't fight this many,_" she analyzed, "_I'd die before I could even aim…wait, what are they doing?_"

She paused and observed curiously when she noticed that the many enemies appeared quite rushed and performed bizarre tasks. Shouts and screams began to echo through the opposing exits and bloodied shinobi rushed through while their comrades stuffed bodies into the holes in an attempt to block them. She frowned behind her dull azure mask before stifling a gasp when a girl glanced right at her.

"Hurry!" said girl yelled, paying no mind to Silence, "He's coming! Hurry!" The female shinobi looked really familiar with that slick red hair and crimson eyes…

Hinata backed into her tunnel with eyes focused on the teenager that noticed her when the situation began to unfold before her. The impromptu walls of grey and black corpses collapsed as more rogue Sound ninjas tore them down from the other side, terrified at whatever they thought was behind them. They faced immediate berating from their fair-weather comrades and a few were struck down by the more ill-tempered of the bunch as they continued to charge until they stuck to the opposite wall.

"_What in the hell is going on?_" the Hyuuga was desperately confused, "_Who's coming? Orochimaru?_"

Her answer arrived soon enough in the form of a man with the most tangled mess of hair she had even witnessed. The stranger wore a long cloak with a hood and swung a long rusty sword with the widest smile and the loudest laughter she had even seen or heard as he slashed through everything in his way without distinction.

This newcomer was the former Sound ninjas' enemy, apparently. The moment he came into sight the air filled with airborne steel as projectiles of every sort flew at him and hit nothing. Many of the colorful enemies charged him with brutal weapons drawn, stabbing, piercing, slicing, and bashing him to no avail whatsoever. With insane joviality, the single assassin drove his oxidized blade through every opponent with wild, uncontrolled slashes.

Silence was stupefied. "_How is he not dying?! He can't be another Jashin follower; he's being sliced in half but not falling apart…_"

Bloody minutes rolled by and the surge of former Sound shinobi lessened only a little. It was a common ploy; allow the weaker fighters to force the enemy to expend energy disposing of them then throw in the stronger warriors to finish the opponent off. A stocky man spun gracefully around the mad hooded enemy, bound him with several heavy chains, and pulled back, holding the snickering warrior in place as he tried to push in the opposite direction. The sole assassin was then met with a huge sword stabbing through his deteriorating cloak…

But his body suddenly moved through the wrecked clothing as well as the chains and he grasped his new assailant by the throat, lifting him off the ground before burying his rusted blade through the heart.

"_What… what was that?_" Hinata observed, too jumpy to panic. Her altered vision noticed something very wrong with the single attacker's body the moment he bypassed the chains. "_It's like he turned into… a shadow?_"

Now that the stranger was free of the confines of the heavy cloak, Silence understood why the he couldn't be killed. Every strike, every swing delivered passed through a sudden darkness that appeared in his body for only a moment. The Hyuuga's bright mind concocted a theory and she glanced at the enemy's feet.

He had no shadow. The light around him was dim, but it was still bright enough that is should have cast a shadow. "_That can't be…_" she gazed at him for a moment later and came to a realization. "_He's bonded with his shadow! That's why nothing can hurt him; he turns into a shadow when he needs to…_"

Panic began to set in her mind and she turned to run; she couldn't win this. So far, dozens of experienced murderers and killers had fallen to the shadow man and his oxidized sword, and the many dozens remaining appeared to be faring no better. What could she do? This was the smart choice; escape and live to fight another day.

She then noticed the teenage girl that saw her taking advantage of the mass confusion and retreating from the fight… straight for her! Silence spun on her heel and aimed her stake launchers at the older female and prepared to fire until she saw a pair of raised and unarmed palms.

"You're Silence, right?" the girl asked in a rushed tone, her voice smooth yet raspy at the same time. She appeared in her mid-teens and wore a dull olive green uniform complete with a sleeveless felt jacket and a pair of tattered slacks. "You are, aren't you?"

Hinata merely glared at her. "And what if I am?"

"Help me get outta here!" she demanded in a hushed whisper.

She eyed her even more. "No," she said flatly.

"C'mon!" the girl pleaded, "I can help you out!"

"No you won't," the blue-haired genius replied, moving away yet keeping her pale eyes glued to the stranger.

"Goddamn it!" the crimson-haired teen hissed, "I'm beggin' you! Please help me get past him!"

"Garaza!" a voice yelled out from the fray behind the young girls, attracting the former Sound ninja's attention, "Where're you…" The individual addressing her never finished; his neck exploded in a shower of dark blood and his head flew through the air.

"Shit!" 'Garaza' cursed then turned to chase after Silence. "_If she could take out commander Takaimi,_" she thought as she ran, "_Then it'd be a good idea to follow her…_"

The fact that the defecting shinobi gave pursuit did not go unnoticed by the Hyuuga as she dodged and weaved to the best of her abilities within the maze of dim caverns. After a few minutes of full-fledged running, Silence was amazed that the slightly older girl was still able to keep track of her. "_Wait,_" she analyzed, an amusing idea popping into her head, "_If she's serious about wanting me to help, then she might make a useful ally…_" She halted in her randomized escape pattern and awaited the older female's arrival.

"Phew," Garaza panted as she approached the genius girl, "My God." She doubled over, wheezing like there was no tomorrow. "You're… fast…" she coughed between mighty inhales.

"Thanks," Hinata accepted the compliment but couldn't believe such a short run winded this unusual girl. "_Is she even a ninja?_" She shook that query from her mind and focused on the task at hand: deciphering the exhausted shinobi's motives. "Why do you want me to help you get out of here?"

"Simple," her chest rose and fell with less intensity now that her lungs had some air. "I wanna survive…"

"Survive what?"

She shot an odd look at her. "You saw him; that freak that's tearin' us up!"

"Who sent him? Orochimaru?"

"Oh, hell no," she returned, her breathing almost back to normal frequencies, "Orochimaru sent in all those jonin bastards we're using for walls."

"You killed them?"

"Yeah!" she winked and held her arm out in an exaggerated victorious gesture. "They thought they could waltz in here and take charge, the dumbasses…"

"Alright, so then who is that shadow man?"

Garaza cocked a flaming crimson eyebrow. "Shadow? Is that what he is?!"

"Yeah." The Hyuuga actually had no idea, but best let this potential adversary think what she will. "Do you know who sent him?"

"Not a clue. Maybe…"

"Look who I found!" a disturbingly close voice shouted, prompting the females to spin around in surprised fright.

It was the so-called shadow man, minus the hooded cloak. He was bound in a mess of dark torn clothing that somehow covered his body adequately, insane smile still prevalent on his features as he raised he straight rested blade.

"Run!" Hinata shouted as she broke into a dead run. "_Where the hell did he come from?! I didn't hear him at all!_"

"Wait up!" Garaza yelled, her overall velocity decreasing as she ran out of breath again.

"Oh, for the love of…" Silence muttered as she screeched to a halt and fired dual stakes at their pursuer. The steel bolts exploded in the man's face, showering him with boiling metal which passed through his suddenly shadowy form with no consequence. "Get up!" the intelligent girl demanded her impromptu charge, seeing that there was nothing she could really do against this bizarre foe.

"Ow! Ow!" the crimson-haired girl flinched, grasping a few pieces of shrapnel that had gone off course and struck her in the shoulder. "That fuckin' hurt!"

"What kind of ninja are you?! Suck it up!" She pulled the red-eyed girl to her feet and started running again, this time dragging the unfortunate shinobi with her.

As before, the Hyuuga dashed through the extensive hive of tunnels with her temporary ally in tow, ordering her to figuratively grow a pair along the entire trip. Her brow furrowed when she noticed that their enemy didn't seem all that concerned about their retreat and took things easy; he walked casually after them while still sporting that impossibly wide grin.

But what puzzled Hinata was that, despite her and Garaza's swiftness, the enemy never fell behind. It was strange; almost as if he were traveling at the same velocity without putting forth the necessary effort to do so. The pale-eyed girl rounded another corner and stopped, her Byakugan actively watching the opponent's movements. She couldn't believe what happened next.

The sole warrior walked into a dark shadow cast on the wall and reappeared around the corner in front of them, cocking a head when he noticed they were no longer ahead of his general position. He started to turn slowly when the blue-haired girl's quick nerves set in and she nabbed Garaza, silenced her with a hand over the mouth, and swung around the corner again into the hallway they had just exited.

Both girls held their breath as if the slightest whisper would bring the entire hive system down on them. Silence's bloodline watched intently as the man glanced back and forth in a somewhat comical manner then shrugged to himself with a prolonged chuckle before disappearing into the shadows again. The girls didn't dare utter a word for the next few long minutes before finally breathing simultaneous sighs of relief.

The Hyuuga hit the ground hard as she took a seat, but she paid no mind to the mild shock. She was elated that somehow they had escaped, at least for the moment. "Heh," she chuckled, "Who knew he'd be so dumb?"

"Yeah," the crimson-eyed girl agreed as she sat cross-legged across from her prodigy savior, sucking in air to refill her lungs.

"So what's your story?"

Garaza took a moment to collect herself before answering. She looked rather tomboyish with her out-of-place clothes, but her actions didn't really match that assumption. "My name is Garaza Nashin of the Nashin bloodline…"

"Bloodline?" Now her interest was peeked.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I got myself transferred here a few weeks ago to look for a distant cousin of mine."

"Anyone I know?"

"Oh, yeah," her eyes displayed playful resentment but not a great deal of it, "You and Curse killed him too. Name was Giza."

"Oh… sorry about that," she lied. How could she apologize for disposing of an enemy that would have killed her otherwise?

"Don't lie," the crimson-eyed teen replied, brushing it off as if Hinata had spilled milk on the floor rather than eliminated a relative. "I know…"

"You don't… seem too upset about it."

"Nah, not really. Us Nashins aren't really friendly towards each other."

The Hyuuga recalled a comment phrased by the long-dead blood user and her eyes narrowed. "Giza said that his entire family was dead; killed off by Orochimaru…"

"Giza got transferred here years ago," she explained nonchalantly, "Back when Orochimaru really _was_ trying to figure out how to dissect most of us. Coupl'a years ago, that old snake bastard finally figured out he couldn't and gave up. Guess Giza just assumed we were all dead…"

"Hold on…" Silence held her open palms out to put the conversation on pause. "Why now? Why do you want my help _now_? We're still enemies; what's changed?"

The Nashin sighed and ran a rough hand through her slick blazing hair. "A bunch of us didn't have any allegiances either way to begin with. We only got sent here because Orochimaru feared our combined abilities."

"Yeah, all you guys have a sob story. So why…?"

"What's left of my family ordered me to find Giza and bring him home. That's it; that was my only job. I never followed Orochimaru's orders," her lips broke into a wide smile, "And I never will."

Hinata nodded in acknowledgment and a few moments passed before she decided to break the awkward silence. "Why'd you get so winded?" she changed the topic, "You're a ninja, aren't you?"

"Nope," she shook her head, "I'm an intel officer. I don't fight."

"Yeah, that's serving you well right now…"

"Hey!" she responded to the jibe, "I got some skills! They're just not fightin' skills…"

"What do you do?"

She tapped an ear. "I listen."

"You have super hearing…" the Hyuuga stated flatly.

"No! I use these," she pulled several wide coils of wires from the many packs strapped around her belt, "String 'em up and listen to the vibrations."

"No offense, but that doesn't seem real useful all on its own…"

"Don't insult me! I got the best ears of my squad!"

"Squad?"

"Yeah," her mood darkened somewhat, but she didn't appear too concerned about it, "Rise and Shirow are dead- I saw them die- but Karin escaped, I think…"

"Karin?" The name sounded familiar. Something about being a loyalist…

"She's got the best tracking skills; she can sense certain kinds'a chakra from miles away! 'Course, she can't hear a conversation from four kilometers away loud and clear, but she's got her uses."

"I see." Another uneasy silence passed. "So what's in it for me if I get you outta here?"

"Well," she scratched her cheek, a clear sign of some form of embarrassment, "I already know the way outta here, I just need someone to help me get there…"

"Those great skills of yours helping you out there?" Hinata couldn't help it- she was having fun mocking the uneasy ally.

"Stuff it!"

"Seriously though, what's in it for me? What do I get out of this?"

"Uh…" the itching continued, "Ah! I know where a bunch of Orochimaru's bases are as well as their garrisons."

"_Whoa,_" she mused, "_That's good stuff. I might want to take her up on this offer, provided she doesn't try to kill me first chance she gets._" Smirking behind her visage, she held a film-covered palm out. "Sounds good. Nice to be working with you."

Garaza returned a smile similar to that of a certain hyperactive blonde as she accepted the gesture and shook the genius girl's hand. "Right back at'cha!"

--

Sten emerged from the shadows near the shaft filled with Sound defectors to finish the job assigned him. He chuckled to himself, tightening his grip on his accursed weapon.

"_Ah… I lost one of them… no big deal. There're plenty left here!_" He advanced into the massive blood-stained vertical tunnel and once again began slicing and dicing his way through hordes of opponents that seemed to have a death wish. Occasionally, one would smarten up and retreat, but he would merely fall into a nearby shadow and appear near the impromptu evacuee to ensure death before returning to the glorious slaughter.

As he wildly swung his aged sword, he reveled in the moment; he lived for this. Of course, his sword helped him enjoy times such as these, as few and far between as they were…

But a nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him of the drawbacks. His sword evoked utter happiness when he grasped its hilt but those emotions were his own. Wielding the ancient weapon merely condensed these feelings of ecstasy he could experience throughout his life into the sole moments he fought with the sword. It provided him joy in its use but robbed him of those sentiments whenever it was sheathed.

The curse of his blade would also drain his life to continue fighting until the end of eternity should he be mortally wounded, but thankfully his power over the realm of shadows prevented that. But if his secret were to ever unravel, his bane of a sword would be the death of him…

However, all that was moot at the moment. "_This is great!_" he shouted internally, laughing as hard as his lungs could manage as he impaled indeterminate amounts of targets. "_This is what I call living!_"

--

Hinata and Garaza ran hell-bent down the twists and turns of the dim corridors. They had taken a detour around the Hub, and what detour it was. "_Holy crap,_" the blue-haired genius proclaimed mentally, "_This added a half hour! That shadow man might be done by the time we get to the other side._"

The Nashin panted hard as her lack of physical training took its toll, but she was a trooper. She never once complained or requested a break; she merely kept at it with feigned endurance. She had been slowed down a bit by the fact that Silence didn't intend to leave her time to reconsider her reward upon freedom- the undercover prodigy had handed her a map of the outlying countries and forced her to locate and mark Orochimaru's bases and their accompanying inhabitants. But it wasn't so bad, after all, this is what her occupation entailed; multitasking.

"You almost done back there?" the Hyuuga inquired, keeping her active Byakugan glued to every visible surface. The shadows were everywhere…

"'Bout halfway," the bloodline user replied in a detached tone. She was surprisingly serious when working. "Should be done when we reach the home stretch."

The female prodigy said nothing in return; was there any need? She merely kept her pale eyes locked onto everything at once as she sailed through the poor illumination. "_I really hope that guy doesn't show up,_" she whined, "_I have no idea how to fight him…_"

The stressful minutes ticked by endlessly and time passed slowly as the duo carefully made their way to the singular cavern that apparently led well out of Konoha. After a while, the boredom started getting to Hinata and she glanced back to find Garaza still hammering away at running and marking the map. "So how did your family wind up with Orochimaru?"

"Huh?" This caught the Nashin off guard; someone actually wondered about that? "Well, we didn't really have a choice," she returned with a matter-of-fact tone, gaze never breaking from the map in her hands.

"You said he almost killed off your entire family," the prodigy continued, "Why didn't you try to escape when he quit?"

"He kept us around by force."

"By force? How's that possible?"

The crimson-haired girl cocked an eyebrow. "Prisons and guards…? How else do you keep someone around who don't wanna be there?"

"What's your bloodline do?" she inquired even though she recalled it quite clearly. What if this girl was lying and wasn't who she claimed to be?

"You saw it- we can melt shit with our blood. It dissolves everything except our bodies."

"Right, that's what I mean. How could he keep you locked up if you could destroy your confines?"

There was a pause before Garaza answered. "That doesn't mean he still couldn't kill us. When you're bloodline's facing extinction, you do all kinds of stuff. Us Nashins might not get along, but we still got our pride. It would suck if we all died out."

Silence considered this; it was a valid notion. "Good point." The conversation hit a lull and she decided to change the subject. "If Nashins don't get along, then why did they send you to search for Giza?"

"Oh, I volunteered."

This caught her off guard. The crimson-eyed girl didn't really seem all that motivated to accomoplish anything outside of survival. "Why?"

"The Nashin family's divided into two classes- kinda like the Hyuugas but not in the same way."

Hinata froze for the briefest of moments upon hearing her surname. "How so?"

"Hyuugas are a family with a sub-family. Nashins have a fighting class and a thinking class."

The Hyuuga frowned at this. "Sounds counterproductive. Why that setup?"

"Hey, it worked just fine until Orochimaru came around! The fighters concentrate on just fighting and the smart guys deal with politics and anything that requires subtlety."

"So what happened?"

"That snake bastard came along and convinced the smart ones to join him then killed them off which left the fighters confused. They started a revolt and he kept killing them until a few years ago."

"Let me guess: you belong to the thinking class."

"Yeah!" she glanced up, a bright smile adorning her rough features, "I'm the newest generation of smart ones. There're only a few of us around these days. I came searching for Giza because apparently he's one of the better fighters we got."

"I see…"

"Plus, I figured it'd have been a good idea to make him teach me how to fight! It's a new age, after all…"

"Hold it," Hinata abruptly interrupted, holding a film-covered hand out to quiet the red-eyed teen. She sensed something- it didn't appear to be a moving shadow, but she felt it nonetheless. Her breathing slowed as she took in her surroundings and she frowned when Garaza carefully placed the map on the ground then followed with an ear and open palms on the cool stone floor.

The blood user closed her eyes and stopped inhaling for several seconds at a time. "This isn't as good as my wires," she commented in a voice a hair above a silent whisper. "I can hear the fighting in sector B zero… the shadow man's still there… if there's anyone around us, they're keeping very still…"

An eternity of minutes passed and her head snapped up with wide eyes. "He stepped and… disappeared?" Shock melted into puzzlement and the Nashin placed her ear back down to the ground to confirm her conclusion. "Yeah… whoever was there is gone."

"Was it the shadow guy?" Silence asked in a similar hushed whisper.

"No," she shook her head as she stood, "I could hear him killin' everyone in sector B zero the whole time. There's no one ahead of us now…"

The Hyuuga nodded and gazed forward. "_I should have seen something with my Byakugan, but I didn't. What kind of trick is this?_"

With renewed hesitation and caution, the female duo crept forward with increasing swiftness until they were making good time again.

--

A chamber shrouded in complete darkness came to life as a brilliant roiling light shone in its center and a man dressed in a frayed blue business suit stepped out. Upon his arrival, the flexing colors bent inwards and disappeared while sickly phosphorescent lamps flickered overhead to greet him. The strange thin man adjusted his tie then proceeded forward across the green and white tiled floor to a screen that buzzed on to reveal a static channel.

"Interesting," he commented to the camera peering down from the malfunctioning monitor, "It seems that the Hyuuga felt the… distortion…" he smirked to himself, "And her… friend seemed quite… observant as well," he recalled the Nashin picking up his near-silent footstep as he walked into the bending portal to extract himself from that dim location least he have a physical encounter with someone outside the corporation and its business partners. "Perhaps keeping her around might be more… beneficial than our…" he struggled for the adequate term, "Initial appraisal... indicated."

"I see," a voice sounded from the static screen, "I thank you for your opinion on the matter; it is quite informative in our decision-making process. Please keep up the good work." The monitor snapped off and the mysterious businessman waltzed over to a set of dirty double doors and eased them open, attracting the attention of the sole inhabitant of the dingy room that should have been kept sterile.

"Doctor," the tall pale man addressed the apathetic man of medicine, "Management has sent me to assist you in… procuring… raw materials. Is there anything you require at the moment?"

"Huh?" the apathetic man turned with drooping eyes before speaking through his bloodied surgeon mask. "Nah, nothin' special. Just keep bringin' me those spare parts I asked for."

The businessman frowned. "I do not recall you filling out the proper forms requesting low-grade… materials."

"C'mon," he whined as he turned back to the dissected body before him, "You know that paperwork's a waste 'a time. The boss wants me to give 'im good stuff, and that's what I'm gonna do."

He pursed his lips and shook his head slowly. "Very well. I shall return in a moment." With that, he disappeared back into the morgue's large storage room from which he arrived.

"Yeah, yeah," the unconcerned surgeon mused as he dug back into the corpse on the table in search of more 'spare parts'. "Whatever…"

--

Hinata and Garaza stood at the end of an incredibly long passageway that glimmered with a dot of natural light at the opposite end. This was the way out of Konoha; a secret passageway that was surprisingly unprotected.

"Never knew that was there," Silence commented, peering down the vast hall, "Is Konoha really that vulnerable?"

The Nashin laughed. "Yeah, you guys got a back door without actually having a door! Man, whoever built this place was an idiot…"

"Shut it," the Hyuuga warned. It wasn't like her new ally was insulting her, but it was still her village. "Anyway, that map…?"

"Here ya go," she handed over the folded document with a smart grin, "I dunno all of Orochimaru's hideouts, but I know a lotta them."

The blue-haired girl glanced at the many marks with her Byakugan then held out a film-covered hand. "Pleasure doing business with you."

"Same with you," Garaza accepted the gesture with gusto. A moment later, she started running down the open exit then suddenly halted and turned to Hinata. She snapped off a casual salute and winked with a smile. "Thanks a bunch! The Nashin family will remember your benevolence!" With that, she spun around and charged hell-bound for the speck of light that would ensure her freedom.

Silence watched her retreating back with a grin behind her dull azure mask. "_Well, that was kinda fun… but enough of that; I gotta get back to the stadium! I think Konoha's retaliation plan should be kicking in about now…_"

She quickly navigated her way through the war-torn catacombs and eventually resumed playing possum next to Kiba and Akamaru in the arena where the battle for the village began.

--

The next day was a sullen one compared to the normally cheery summer mornings that the city enjoyed. The sun was hidden behind billowing dark clouds that threatened rain at a moment's notice, debris still littered the streets and rooftops along with a handful of corpses that had yet to be collected, and grief stifled the air as the village mourned those lost.

Naruto cried honest tears at the Hokage's funeral. The old man was one of the few people he held in high regard, and he would be missed greatly by the blonde. Unbeknownst to the concealed genius, Hinata also watched on with sadness pooling in her pale eyes. She had seen the aged sage the day before the invasion and tried to warn him of the looming dangers underneath, but her calculations utterly failed this time. Feeling a twinge of personal guilt at Sarutobi's death, she allowed a few tears of her own to fall as well.

Nature, of course, continued on as it always does. Soon after the ninja leader's funeral, the sun's rays pierced the weeping clouds and the brilliant summer days quickly resumed their course with chirping birds and moistened breezes. The misery of those killed in the attack was still there, but the uplifting mood helped things along.

That evening, the full moon cast its eerie illumination upon the Hokage's fresh grave, baptizing it in pale light that commanded peace and serenity. All was quiet around the tombstone and there was nary a soul in sight… that anyone knew of.

Curse stood before the old man's final resting place, his crimson mask leveled upon the name inscribed on the cold stone. The Uzumaki felt that he at least owed Sarutobi that much; a final farewell from his true self. He felt a presence behind him and checked the instinct to flinch- he recognized the other visitor.

Silence stepped up next to him, her dull azure mask soaking up the moonlight like salt in shallow water. The Hyuuga was distraught that her efforts to save the shinobi leader while keeping her identity a secret could have lead to Sarutobi's death; if she had not administered her newest memory-inhibiting drug and he remembered her warning, would he have been alive today? Her young mind didn't know the answer and it never would.

The Konoha duo stood in statuesque silence as they gazed upon the grave for several minutes. Naruto nudged his hand over to Hinata's and, with an accepted gesture, clasped onto it and squeezed. He had no idea what she had gone through during the invasion, but he was glad she was alright. Little did he know, the pale-eyed girl felt the exact same way about him.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed, they nodded simultaneously, unlocked their intertwined fingers, and parted without a word. Curse and Silence had uttered their inaudible farewells to Sarutobi, third Hokage of Konoha.

* * *

I'm pretty sure most of you guys were expecting something other than canon to happen here and were disappointed. Rest assured, canon is reaching its first breaking point soon enough, and there'll be plenty of meat to this story without it.

Now, I'm announcing a bit of a contest here:

Like Garaza said, the Nashin family won't forget Hinata's kindness! The winner will be informed what Hinata's 'reward' will be and have a small say in what that entails. Nothing major, but something definitely worth mentioning.

Here's the challenge for ya'll:

Sten's 'cursed sword' is closely based on a real legendary sword. Read over the description given and tell me the sword's name!

Hints:

- The names of certain AI's in Bungie Studio's epic games 'Marathon' and the 'Halo' series are related.

- The sword's name is actually in there; it's just broken up.

Have fun with that one! I await your thoughts!


	20. Developing Feelings and Powers!

Guh, the pain...

It's tiring to get crap out of the way and advance the storyline at a good pace while desperately wanting to get to a certain point...

Anyways, enjoy. This hurt to write...

* * *

The days after the village's invasion and its late Hokage's funeral, Naruto spent less time behind his idiotic visage. There was simply no reason for him to keep up the appearance of a moron while everyone was still reeling from the massive amount of damage dealt in the attack. He had the time to spend it as he pleased.

He chose to pass the hours attempting to alleviate Shia's suffering. Ever since the disturbed girl's brother had been killed in battle, the blonde had made every attempt to reach out to her, albeit at an excruciatingly slow pace. If he had been working on a technique or seal, he would have changed his approach long ago due to the insane amount of time it consumed but this operation could be performed no other way, and he knew it. "_Like they say, time heals all wounds…_"

The brown-haired girl had already reached the point where she no longer shied away from his mere presence; he could approach her now without her freaking out. But that was about it- she was still mostly unresponsive to any gesture and didn't seem to ever move from her huddled position against the wall.

"_I've gotta get her to turn around,_" he knew as he donned his crimson mask in preparation to enter her cell, "_Or she'll die of loneliness sooner than anything else._" With that, he unlocked the heavy steel door and swung it open.

Shia didn't move or look up, inactions that were slowly becoming dominant in her downbeat personality. The blonde said nothing as he approached the bars and took them apart; he had gotten into the habit of leaving the impromptu 'door' loose and easy to deconstruct with the purpose of easy access for these visits. The Uzumaki strode over to the unresponsive girl and took a seat next to her, easing a small tray of steaming food before her feet. His azure eyes noticed that her previous meals were only half eaten and crumbs littered her dirty mouth.

"Hey, Shia," he said softly, hoping that maybe today she would speak. When no reply came back, he put his arm around her shoulder and started rubbing slowly. A few tense moments passed and he commented, "You really should eat something. You're starting to get thin…"

"Why?" she cut him off, something that was rare even in her distraught state. "Y-you killed m-my b-brother then d-do all th-these n-nice things f-f-for me… w-why?"

Naruto paused to collect his words. "Because I know what loneliness can do to you. You loose all hope of living and soon start to hate everything and everyone, even those who might care about you."

"E-except t-that you k-killed someone w-who did. I-I loved m-my brother and h-he loved me, t-too…"

Curse tightened his soft grip on her arm and didn't try to defend himself. "Yeah, I know," he said after a while, "And there's nothing I can ever do to make up for that." He peered into her eyes and she glanced back at the aural contact. "But please believe me when I say I'm sorry. I really am."

Shia's eyes shifted, signifying that Aiya had something to say. "If you knew Dual was my brother," she started with a subdued harshness, "Would you have still killed him?"

"I…" he struggled with that one, "I… don't know." He broke the gaze and looked away in minor shame. "I really don't know…"

The second personality neither had a comeback nor seemed to want to tear his throat out, so she receded and Shia's brown eyes flexed into her dominant personality. She didn't have anything to say either and her head sunk back between her knees.

A few awkward seconds passed and Naruto took a deep whiff of the air, his nose cringing at the smell. "_That's right, she hasn't washed up since I captured her… geez, that was weeks ago! She's not eating right either; she could get sick at this rate…_" An idea struck him and he abruptly released the girl and headed for the prison door without bothering to lock it behind him. "Be right back!" he called before he disappeared into the adjacent room then from the strange chamber altogether.

This struck the disturbed girl as odd. "_He's never left the door wide open before,_" she analyzed, her perpetual misery overpowering her surprise, "_Could he be letting me go?_"

"_Wouldn't bet on it,_" Aiya retorted, "_He didn't shut off all those puppet traps around this damn cage._"

"_B-but then, what is he doing? Where is he going? Could he be testing me?_"

"_Maybe he figures you'll bolt and get caught in the traps so he won't have to finish you off himself._"

"_That couldn't be it; if he wanted to kill me he would have done it a long time ago…_"

"_He's a pussy, haven't you seen that?! He don't have the guts to kill a nine-year-old!_"

"_I-I don't think…_"

"_Screw what you think!_" the aggressive second personality shouted in her mind, "_You're too damn emotional! First you think he's nice, then mean, then nice again! You can't even make up your own damn mind!_"

"_P-p-please…_" her stutter kicked in within her own subconscious; evidence that Aiya was breaking her… again.

"_Shut up! What the hell do you know?! I'm around because you need me! Your weak ass mind created me to make all the important decisions and now, in the worst mess you've ever been in your whole damn life, you wanna rebel against me?!_"

"_T-that's n-n-not…_"

"_I don't give a damn if you wanna die, but I sure as hell don't! I wanna live too, damn it!_"

Shia's brown eyes welled up and the waterworks were about to start again when the salty moisture suddenly retreated upon a loud thump emanating from the adjacent room. Peering up, the girl found Curse waltzing into her cell with purpose in his steps. He began unlocking her remaining shackles, shocking her speechless.

"Alright, turn around," he commanded. The disturbed girl was too beaten down to resist and acted with systematic obedience. Naruto slipped a felt cloth over her eyes and chuckled as she jumped at the action. "Relax," he assured her, "I'm not gonna do anything to you…"

Mentally, Aiya screamed at the dominant personality at how screwed they were. The secondary self was positive that their mutual death and/or rape was at hand, and she didn't spare her fear-laced anger within the shy girl's troubled brain. Shia's mind raced with thoughts of every possibility, both realistic and absolutely ridiculous, in an attempt to prepare herself for what was to come. Her muscles unconsciously tightened when she was strapped to something warm and feelings of vertigo and claustrophobia washed over her following that. Every inch of her body trembled with nervousness when her feet touched the ground again and the blindfold was flipped off…

To reveal a simple tiled room containing a bathtub filled with steaming hot water. Her head swiveled over to Curse and her mouth imitated a fish out of water. "Wha- wha- wha…?"

"It's a bath," the blonde said with no small amount of bemusement, "I don't know if you noticed, but you reek!"

"I… er… uh…" she stumbled over every consecutive word and its accompanying thought. This was too much for her traumatized brain to process at the moment.

"I lined the room with trap seals and whatnot," he explained casually as he moved for the entrance, "So please don't try to break out. That would suck for all of us." He grasped the door handle and started to close the wooden barricade when he leaned back in and stated, "Oh, towel's over there with a change of clothes." He smiled. "Hope you don't mind hand-me-downs. Not like I have any girls' clothes…" he trailed off as the door clicked shut and his back slumped against it.

Shia could only blink at what just transpired. This was the last thing she expected from her captor, especially after Aiya's adamant accusations involving utmost brutality. Almost a minute passed before she moved a muscle.

Naruto sat with his back to the closed entrance, his mirrored eyes keeping a sharp lookout over his apartment. The blinds were drawn, the doors and windows were locked; only the second presence in the room could tip off anyone that something was amiss, and the higher-up ninjas were too busy to worry about his less-than-savory digs.

He grinned to himself; he had gotten a strong reaction out of the downcast girl. Of course, blindfolding someone then hauling them up a tight tunnel without informing them first was bound to surprise anybody. "_Maybe this'll all work out sooner than I thought…_" He heard water sloshing behind the wooden door and wondered how long he'd have to sit there while Shia enjoyed the bath. A few minutes passed an idea struck him. "_Maybe I really have been approaching this whole thing wrong…_"

"C-Curse…" her shy voice sounded off from inside the confined room.

"Yeah?"

"Th-th-thank you…"

The visible portion of his face broke out in a bright smile. "Don't mention it! Enjoy it for as long as you want!"

And enjoy it she did. About a half hour went by before she emerged from the steamy room with damp hair and old clothes that once belonged to the blonde. She bowed nervously while stuttering out more words of thanks.

The Uzumaki merely laughed it off and mussed her wet brown hair that fell a little below the shoulders. "_Wow,_" he mused, "_Didn't think she was this cute. Guess a little cleaning makes all the difference._" He blindfolded her again for the descending return to his private chamber and, upon arrival, surprised her again with a plan for a new living setup that he figured she would enjoy.

Shia listened to Naruto's plan that basically dictated her prison to be transformed into an actual room rather than a jail with wonder. Here was this stranger who had treated her humanely from the day he met her despite her shortcomings, but this person also killed the only remaining family she had… but while she could righteously blame him for that, Curse and Dual were enemies at the time, so death was a mutual thing for them…

"_But Curse is so kind…_" the disturbed girl thought, confusion swimming in her head. She expected Aiya to chime in with her usual negativity, but the second personality merely sat by, stewing over being incorrect in her unsavory assumptions in silence. The brown-haired girl's attention suddenly snapped back to Curse when he stopped talking and glanced at her. She let a weak smile distort her lips and said, "Th-thank y-you, Curse…"

"C'mon," he returned jovially, patting her still-moist hair with a gentle hand, "I'm sure you want a change of scenery. Let's get started."

With that, the concealed prodigy spent the remainder of the evening with Shia tearing down her cell and slowly turning it into a chamber worthy of comfort. Unknowingly, the distraught girl's misery over her elder sibling's untimely death lessened little by little as the prison bars clattered to the ground and were replaced with cheap wooden floors. It never struck her that the undercover genius had conceived this entire plan as a form of therapy.

--

Anko entered her home after a long day and flung herself on the couch; she was exhausted. The rebuilding of Konoha fell mostly on the shoulders of its civilian population, but mission requests were another matter; those couldn't be refused or allocated elsewhere. Doing so would raise a thousand red flags pointing out that Konoha, while still standing, was frightfully weak at the moment. So while shinobi work had not really changed in number, the ratio of missions per ninja had increased a great deal.

She gazed around her dwelling with tired eyes. It was a small apartment, but it was cozy; a good place to call home. Her eyelids fluttered as her body demanded sleep, but she couldn't shake a certain stranger from her mind.

"_Curse said Takaimi and her crew was around,_" she mused, "_but I didn't see any of 'em. No one else did either; those guys are impossible to miss. So what happened to them?_" Her lungs expanded as she took a deep breath, sighed, and then lurched forward to stand. A curious whim flittered through her mind and she waltzed over to her table, backtracking as best she could where Curse had made physical contact. "_Nothin' here,_" she analyzed the wooden furniture, following the mysterious man's path to the window. "_No tracks, no nothin'… hello, what've we got here?_"

Her eyes gazed down at a barely noticeable imprint in the cheap carpet below her window. The fibers were pressed down into two adjacent rectangles; evidence of the armored geta sandals Curse wore. "_Must've pushed down hard enough to lift himself up to the windowsill,_" she concluded as she 'followed' the trial out said opening. Noting that no further tracks were left behind, she took another deep breath and decided to take an easy stroll around the village before partaking in a well-deserved nap. "_Ah, haven't been to the Hokage's grave yet…_"

--

Hinata felt like she was about to loose her mind. Since the village was on high alert, notable persons such as nobility were to be watched closely to ensure their safety. She, being of the main Hyuuga house _and_ the daughter of its leader, fell under this category. Fighting the urge to disappear so she could work in her main hidden chamber, she knew that performing the necessary evading of guards would arouse suspicion and possibly blow her cover. "_So now I gotta sit in this boring ass mansion…_"

She casually strolled through one of the many gardens littering the extensive compound, noting the locations of the guards who believed themselves well hidden. "_Why do they think I'm such a weak little girl who needs protecting?_" she raged inwardly, "_Not even father thinks that! Oh well, can't do anything about it now…_" She approached one of the shallow ponds and gazed at the exotic fish slipping through the clean water without effort, pale eyes glazing over as she entered what she had dubbed 'trance mode'. As she stared at the aquatic life forms, her sharp mind pondered their wondrous environment.

"_Water…_" she mused, "_Any object can move easily through still water, but if it's moving fast enough then nothing can resist it. Kinda like an unbreakable wall…_" This train of thought permeated the many layers of her brain and an idea for a technique revolving around this liquid substance began to surface in her mental machinations. As the proper manipulations worked themselves out in her mind, there was this noise… this annoying sound that got louder and louder every time it was repeated…

"Hinata!"

"Eh?!" she jumped, mildly startled at the sudden yell. "H-Hanabi… h-how are you?"

"What are you doing?" the younger sibling asked with a mixture of confusion and frustration, "I said your name several times but you didn't answer."

"I-I'm s-sorry," she stammered, mentally freaking out over her false appearance's inconsistency. "_Damn it, I gotta end this bad habit of mine! It's gonna reveal me before too long!_" She gulped, assuming her shy persona. "I-I guess I j-just got lost i-in my own l-little w-world…"

Hanabi arced an eyebrow; this wasn't the first time she caught her older sister in such an unresponsive state, but it was odd nonetheless. "Cousin Neji is looking for you."

"W-why?" she trembled, faking fear towards the prick. "_Huh, why would that ass be looking for me? Settle a score or something?_"

"I don't know, something about an apology."

"Oh… o-okay…thank y-you…" The elder Hyuuga bowed meekly then scampered off in search of her newly reformed cousin.

The younger sibling cocked a young head at her strange sister's retreating form. "_She's so weird… was she like this when I was younger? I sure don't remember…_"

--

While most of Konoha worked at repairing the village, Jiraiya slaved away at one of his most time-consuming duties: peeping. He sat atop a building with an excellent strategic view of the women's hot springs several blocks away, trusty telescope in hand. So far, he was having a ball today; plenty of lovely ladies to go around. But his fun was cut short when Homura and Koharu interrupted him to offer the title of fifth Hokage to the old lech.

Naturally, Jiraiya refused the request and dodged their flawless logic by meeting them halfway. They wanted a Sannin so he promised them a Sannin… just not him. At the end of his fantastic bartering, he recalled a certain blonde idiot that had caught his eye and stated that Naruto would be tagging along in the search for the village's next leader.

Of course the elders were mortified at this suggestion, not because they were biased assholes but due to the possibility that the Uzumaki could be captured and his inherent power used as fuel for a war against the ailing city. The frog master assured them that nothing would go wrong and went on his way in search of his new charge.

"_He's definitely an unusual kid,_" he mused as he got wind of the boy's usual hangouts, "_A village idiot that mastered the Shadow Clone technique in one night and summoned Gamabunta the first time he actually summoned a toad? I can't accept that he's as stupid as people make him out to be…_" His experienced mind began to think up some kind of test he could administer to gauge the undercover genius's potential. It couldn't be anything simple because that would be self-defeating while holding Naruto's interest; the boy was viciously stubborn when it came to things he deemed a waste of time. "_I got it!_" he exclaimed inwardly, "_If that old saying 'like father, like son' holds any meaning, then this'll be perfect for him…_"

After crossing all locations save Ichiraku's Ramen off his list, he continued on towards said establishment. He would collect the blonde, leave Konoha with him in tow to search for Tsunade, and see how quickly the Uzumaki could grasp the Rasengan while they were at it.

--

Naruto was ecstatic; he got to go on a trip! And with one of the legendary Sannin no less!

In all honesty, he really was excited. As prideful as he was about his secret abilities, he could at least admit that he had a long way to go. Hokages were purported to know at least a thousand ninja techniques or possess unique blood limits, neither of which he could boast. Furthermore, he was young and lacked experience along with its accompanying wisdom; perhaps Jiraiya would impart some of his sagely advice to him between peeping sessions…

He had rushed home in an exaggerated frenzy to pack, but when he arrived at his rundown abode he didn't prepare the luggage himself. Instead, he created a handful of clones and, to mess with the toad master a little, ordered them to pack everything not nailed down while he wrapped up some business.

As his copies obeyed, he nabbed an armful of instant ramen and a pot then slid down the ladder within his trap-laden vertical passage, arriving at his personal chamber with a solid 'thump'. He could hear slow movement in the recently converted prison and quickly donned his mask as the massive metal door creaked open, revealing a semi-curious Shia in a familiar blinding orange jumpsuit and shorts.

"H-hey!" the Uzumaki held up an open palm and smiled, attempting to downplay his unchanged clothes and a few beads of nervous sweat. He hadn't had time to switch to his alter ego's clothes so, with the exception of his crimson mask and its attached mane of flowing red hair, he looked exactly like the confused nine year old before him. "_Gah! I knew I looked stupid, but this is ridiculous!_" He desperately choked the urge to laugh at the former prisoner's loud garb.

"C-Curse…" she stuttered, a slight improvement from her previous state where she wouldn't even talk at all. Apparently Naruto's brilliant idea of using work as a sort of therapy worked as well as he'd hoped. "W-why are y-you w-wearing that?"

"Huh?" he tried to act surprised, knowing he looked like a fool, "Oh that! I don't have time to change; I'm in a rush!" Tossing the pot and cups of instant ramen to the floor, he rushed over to a locker, flung it open, and removed a standard scroll from the top rack. He glanced at the side to confirm this was the one he desired, nodded satisfactorily, and then stored it in the partially invisible tattoos on the back of his left arm. This particular storage document contained nothing more than a change of his alter ego's clothing; he knew there would be a day he needed this thing.

"W-w-what's going on?" Shia stated, totally lost on why Curse was in such a hurry.

"Ah," he stopped and stared her down with mirrored eyes and a kind smile, "I'm going on a trip. I'm not sure how long it'll be, so here's a little extra food. You remember where the food bin is down here?"

She nodded shyly, still hiding a little behind the huge steel door.

"Yeah, help yourself to the whole thing. Should be enough to eat like royalty for a month."

The disturbed girl gave no response other than her brown eyes glazing over. Curse was leaving for a while? How long? "_Why am I concerned about this?_" she wondered.

"You okay?" Naruto asked, removing himself from the ladder and strolling over to her. He noticed her snap out of her internal revelry and chuckled a little when she shied an inch further behind the door at his sudden appearance. "Relax," he stated, mussing her hair and grinning at her reaction, "It won't be permanent. I'll be back soon enough."

"O-okay…" she seemed tentative for some reason.

An awkward moment passed as the two gazed at each other with blank eyes. "Well, I gotta go!" the blonde exclaimed, feeling his clones popping out of existence.

Shia said nothing as she observed her benevolent captor scale out of sight into the trap-laden passage. A few minutes went by and she could no longer feel his presence, though she had never been much of a tracker like Karin…

She frowned a little upon feeling a tug at the back of her mind. Aiya had something to say but if felt like she was… hesitating? "_This isn't like you,_" she mentally directed at the second personality, "_I-is something the matter?_" Despite her curiosity, she still feared the aggressive side of herself; the alternate ego had the miraculous ability to dredge up bad memories no matter the situation.

"_We should leave,_" Aiya commented flatly with resigned harshness in her tone.

Now Shia knew something was up- her secondary self was authoritative; every statement was a command, not a suggestion. "_Why?_"

"_Curse is leaving for a while._" Her voice was calm and deliberate, a far cry from its usual fiery shrewdness."_We should escape while we have the chance._"

"_Where should we go?_"

Ensuing silence answered before Aiya. "_Anywhere but here. It's dangerous here…_"

"_Back to commander Takaimi?_"

"_I don't think Takaimi's around anymore. Why else are we not being held prisoner?_"

"_We're not? We can't leave…_"

"_Shut up,_" the alter ego retorted, instantly realizing her error but attempting to justify her mistaken point, "_Prisoners live in cages and dungeons. Last time I checked, we're living in a decent room with access to food and a shower._"

"_That's… a good point…_" She had forgotten about Curse tapping into a water main to build a crude shower for her. "_But we can't leave. We already tried to go up that ladder and barely avoided the first trap. We couldn't possibly make it all the way up…_"

"_Then make another way,_" Aiya demanded nonchalantly. "_There's always another way. Look, he left all these weapons behind; repurpose them._"

Shia immediately began systematically obeying her second self by pondering how to use the available resources around them; after all, that was her specialty. But after a few seconds she wondered why she would want to escape. Her brain wracked itself for a plausible answer, but her young mind couldn't come up with a definitive reason.

Despite her skill set and split personality, she was still a highly impressionable nine year old girl. Sure, Curse had captured her and put her through the routines of an average prisoner, but he never tortured or purposefully tried to harm her. He had unknowingly killed her brother while they were enemies whose only an alternative to survival was death, but he had been there for her to help her through Dual's passing. While she stewed in aimless misery he did his best to pull her from it and give her something worth living for, all while asking for nothing in return.

"M-maybe…" she muttered to herself, "I c-can put this b-behind me…"

As the dominant personality worked up her resolve, Aiya sat in the back of her mind, grimacing at her own uncertain future. "_She's… never defied me before…_"

--

Anko waltzed over to the late Hokage's final resting place, yawning as she tried to keep sleepiness at bay for a while longer. She approached the grandiose gravesite and stared at the name inscribed on the polished stone. She opened her mouth to say something but no words came; her mind couldn't formulate anything worth mentioning. "_Well, I could talk about Curse,_" she knew, "_But if anyone hears me I'm a dead woman._"

A few minutes passed and the snake mistress eventually nodded, her silent prayers directed to the old man. She turned to continue back the way she came when she noticed a strange imprint on the ground at the edge of the plot.

"_Wait a second…!_" her eyes widened, "_Is that what I think it is?!_" She leaned forward and got a close look. Sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed; those adjacent rectangles in the mud were identical to the ones in her carpet. "_Curse was here…_" she concluded, "_But whose footprints are these?_"

Beside the known hidden genius's marks lied another set of indents within the moist dirt. They appeared to have soles, but the design was far different from the standard shinobi sandals. "_Almost looks like metal slabs were pushed in…_"

The Mitarashi analyzed the strange footprints for a while longer, wondering if someone else had been with the strange crimson-masked man. Little did she know that she gazed upon Silence's imprints, further immersing herself in the mystery of the Konoha duo.

--

As the weeks passed, so did the paranoia over the nobility's security. Hinata sighed in relief when the guards stopped following her around; any more of that and she felt that insanity would have been a welcome change. She had spent much of her unofficial captivity in her room writing poetry to attempt relaying her feelings to Naruto.

Of course, that's what she wanted everyone to believe. In truth, she had been working out the kinks of several water-based techniques so she could start field-testing her theories when she could move about freely again. The poetry was merely a clever code she developed using prose and double meanings to stand for notes. Upon being relieved of her near constant boredom, she swiftly made her way to her prized lab and proceeded to prepare a special chamber whose sole purpose revolved around practicing said experimental techniques.

Since she wanted to work with water, she located the nearest water main and tapped into it with relative ease. Shiori and Ichirou happily assisted their Mistress in this endeavor and Silence possessed adequate water in a few days' time- draining all she needed at once would raise red flags around her hidden location.

Next in the plan was to locate the ends of the massive underground tunnel adjacent to her private chamber and seal them off. Once again, the reassembled Hyuugas proved invaluable as their modified bodies made blocking off the connecting points a breeze. After a week's work, the dim passage had been expertly isolated from the rest of the extensive hive and concealed by so many specialized seals and active techniques that no one without a complete map would ever know it had been there in the first place.

The final phase of the new 'room' was to flood it, an action that took no time at all. An hour after opening the underground tanks, the tunnel sloshed up to the genius girl's knees with the cold liquid.

"Perfect…" Hinata purred to no one as she initiated her first technique, a modification of the already powerful 'Water Explosion' dubbed the 'Water Implosion' by the blue-haired prodigy. "_Yeah, so original…_"

A small surge of water spattered around her feet with a slow buildup of chakra to ensure that it didn't become too large or go out of control. The cool liquid then began a steady spin upwards and, with careful deliberation so it wouldn't explode in Silence's face, shot forward in a horizontal tornado before impacting with the newly constructed wall many meters away while engulfing several suspended kunai along the way. Upon contact, the Hyuuga focused her natural energy on the miniature pillar of deadly fluid and, as predicted, the spinning water compressed to deadly levels, crushing the metal knives within into crumpled balls of steel.

Silence let out a triumphant grin and released the successful technique. "_Man, what I wouldn't give to try this on a large scale… oh well, I'll try it one more time then move on to the next!_"

--

Time passed rather quickly for the blonde genius. He had been having so much fun on his journey with the perverted Sannin that, before he knew it, his mission had been accomplished.

As Naruto headed back to Konoha with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune, his intelligent mind was abuzz with ideas and theories regarding the Rasengan technique. He had mastered the move in a relatively short time, at least in comparison to other ninjas. But the time required for him to truly unlock its potential had been agonizingly slow for him. If he had spent that time with Silence or Shia, he could have conquered the village ten times over or had a devout lover by now… not that he really minded, seeing as how all that hard work had paid off big time. He had it down perfectly, able to utilize only one hand for the move. However, the undercover genius noticed that Jiraiya kept a close eye on him when he wasn't out in the red light district or peering through a knothole at the local bathhouses; the old man seemed to be suspicious of something. So, in turn, the blonde made sure to limit himself publicly so the old man would merely be impressed but not so much that the toad master felt he was a waste of time and drop him as a pupil.

But that was merely the highlight of his trip; he had seen so much more that made him feel like dancing with joy. To begin with, he had witnessed several high-end techniques performed by the trio of legendary ninjas. The one that caught his interest most was Jiraiya's Swamp of the Underworld, with the old perv's Toad Mouth Bind and Needle Jizo as the runners up. Sadly, he had only caught glimpses of the proper seals for each move, but he was confident that, with time, he could replicate the results.

Even so, techniques were but a portion of his short yet eventful outing. He had encountered Sasuke's older brother Itachi and his partner Kisame, and then proceeded to watch the elder Uchiha open a can of imaginary whoop-ass on the conceited boy who had followed him. His brilliant mind didn't understand how the Sharingan was capable of screwing with someone's mind, but now that he had minimal knowledge of it he could begin working on a counter. He almost felt pity for the younger bloodline user… almost. "_He's too arrogant to admit his own shortcomings. This'll be good for him in the long run…_"

The Uzumaki also came across a new bit of information that would be impertinent to his future: the Akatsuki organization. They were after the fox sealed within him for some reason, but whatever they had planned couldn't bode well for anyone. The blonde was grateful for Jiraiya bailing him out on this one, but he knew that he couldn't count on the legendary ninja forever. A time would come where he would have to fend for himself, and he needed to be prepared. "_Shouldn't be too bad; I'm a smart guy! Hell, I'll bet if Silence were with me we'd wipe the floor with 'em…_"

That thought caught him off guard despite coming out of his own head. He had never really thought of his counterpart as someone he could continuously count on. When he pondered over the matter further, he realized that at this point the female in question perfectly matched the definition of a friend; she was reliable, trustworthy, and seemed to enjoy his company on a certain level. "_Damn,_" he mused, "_Could there be something more that I'm missing?_"

As the blonde and his elite caravan strolled back into Konoha, a certain pale-eyed girl sneezed mightily. "Phew," she mumbled at the relieving action, "Hope I'm not getting' sick. That'd be bad…"

Weeks had rolled by since she initiated her technique research and she had made tremendous progress with no small thanks to her new test chamber. In that time she had perfected the Water Implosion move and was near mastering two more water-based techniques that she designed from the ground up. At one point in time, she got the bright idea to integrate her electrical affinities to the cold liquid in order to produce a tremendous, if not fatal, boost in energy. Her research led to just that; an enormous increase in stopping power in her new water attacks.

During the high point of her discoveries she formulated another plan, one far more dangerous but, if it worked flawlessly, would revolutionize her method of combat. She figured that if she could somehow reproduce the burning liquid that was originally meant for the Jashin follower in a form that was mobile yet could cover ample ground she could trap her future opponents in a sea of unstoppable acid.

She cleared the first and greatest hurdle several days ago; changing the molecular layout of the liquid. Starting off with a gel variation, the process eventually morphed the stuff into a powdery form that, when mixed with water, could spread across an indefinite amount of space. Of course, the strength of the fluid was dependant on how much of its solid form was added, but such a thing consisted of mere numbers and ratios- Hinata figured that part out during a lunch break.

Afterwards came the issue of being able to safely 'walk' across the dangerous chemical. It only became acidic when bombarded with intense heat from an appropriate source, so the Hyuuga theorized that an opposite charge would nullify its effects on the object that carried said opposing force. She built a handful of metal containers and performed quite a few experiments that eventually confirmed her idea. Setting out to build new footwear that could come into contact with the searing liquid, the blue-haired girl constructed numerous generators that were tiny- they could fit in the palm of her hand. Individually, they didn't produce much power, but connecting them in unison amplified their outputs exponentially. She constructed steel housings for these miniature power grids that appeared to be shin guards and built new metal boots that were capable of handling the charge without burning her feet off.

The final challenge was the simplest by far… in theory. Putting it into practice would take insane effort of which Silence knew she was physically incapable. In order to force the fluid to reach its trademark burning state it needed a charge; in this case, an exorbitant amount of power due to the widespread area of the inert acid. A generator of epic proportions would be needed, but if it wasn't mobile then the complicated technique would be worthless…

"_There is a way,_" Hinata knew, "_But… it's not right… I don't think I could do it in good conscience…_" This was a quandary for her; this amazing setup guaranteed her an advantage in battle, but in order to complete it she would have to turn a blind eye to her morals. It was a difficult decision for her as a ninja and a scientist.

"_What would Curse do…?_"

--

Kurenai was walking home after an impromptu date with Asuma. She ran into him on her way for some groceries and the encounter turned into a night on the town, or at least as wild as she could get. Oh, how the approaching woman could put her to shame…

"Kurenai!" Anko yelled out as she caught up, "You got a minute?"

"Certainly," the Yuhi responded pleasantly, face twisting in surprised concern upon laying eyes on the fishnet-clad ninja. "Are you okay? You look really rough…"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. The Mitarashi hadn't slept well ever since concluding that there was more than one hidden genius in town a few weeks ago and it showed. "Hey, you see anything weird lately?"

"What?"

"You know, anything outta the ordinary. Anyone acting strange?"

The crimson-eyed woman arched an eyebrow. "_Her too?_" Mulling over what to do, she decided that Anko was a friend; loyal and trustworthy. She leaned in and her smooth voice spoke in a whisper. "Actually, I've got the same thing on my mind too."

"You do? What is it? Tell me!" Her tone was hushed but the lack of sleep inhibited her brain when it came to polite speech, not that she paid it any mind anyway.

"Alright, keep this quiet…" she lurched forward even more and directed her voice into the snake mistress's ear with an extended palm, "My student, Hinata, has been acting strange for a while."

"A while?"

"I used to escort her as a chunin so I thought I knew her habits, but she's been deviating from them ever since I became her instructor."

Anko's brow furrowed. She was too tired to really get it without being told the whole story. "Uh… care to elaborate?"

"Here, come on up," Kurenai invited her into her apartment, "There's a lot to tell and I don't think the street's a good place to do it…"

* * *

Yay, Tsunade's here. That means... what, Sauce-gay retrieval arc's next? Sounds about right.

You should look forward to that one (winkwink).

Ah, and as for the contest thing last chapter: the first person to give me a definitive correct answer was 'Jill Bioskop'.

Sten's sword is loosely based off Charlemagne's legendary sword Joyeuse, which is 'of the same temper' as the sword Durendal and Curtana. So yeah, there's the answer.

Tired. Need bed... g'night.


	21. Goodbyes! Revelations! Breaking Cannons!

Longest. Chapter. EVAR!!1!

Mother of Bob, this took a while to write. Hope ya'll enjoy it!

* * *

The days rolled by slowly in the village hidden in the Leaves, bringing with them sullen and dull times to those seeking excitement of any kind. Obviously, the biggest news ushering through the streets was the arrival of the newest Hokage, Tsunade. The slug mistress was put to work the moment she set foot in the city, tending to the lone Uchiha boy as well as the student who was nearly killed by Gaara, Rock Lee.

While all seemed well on the surface, the winds blew with unease and tension. Despite the passing storm known as the recent invasion of Konoha, more turbulent times were on the way, and the local ninjas could feel it in their bones.

Kakashi was one such shinobi; his worries laid with his male students, Sasuke and Naruto. Apparently, the young Sharingan user suffered an utter defeat at the hands of his elder brother Itachi, and the experienced Hatake could sense the growing tumult within the vengeful boy. "_He's becoming more and more reckless,_" he mused, deciding that his favored novel would have to wait, "_If Sasuke hadn't run into Itachi, he might actually be stable. Guess that was just wishful thinking…_"

The one-eyed jonin hoped that he could connect with his troubled charge, but the boy was frightfully unpredictable; he had no idea what the kid was thinking. Couple that with the growing animosity between the Uchiha and a budding Uzumaki, and internal conflict wouldn't be far off…

He felt a spark of chakra and recognized it instantly. "_That's the chidori! Damn it!_" he cursed, knowing that his prediction had come true far too soon for his tastes. He leapt onto the rooftops and charged hell bent for the hospital- the scene of a battle between two frustrated genin. "_Why are you doing this, Sasuke?!_"

Elsewhere, Kurenai had her own worries. "_Anko got involved in this,_" she analyzed, "_But how? I told her everything I saw from Hinata but she didn't tell me anything._" This was true; the Mitarashi seemed rather distant and danced around the Yuhi's questions while pretending nothing was wrong, but the red-eyed woman knew her friend too well. She could read between the lines but they were too blurry to make out anything definite. "_She seemed… afraid? That couldn't be; Anko Mitarashi fears nothing…_" Her head shook as she abridged that mental statement. "_Except for Orochimaru, she's still scared of him a little. Wait,_" an epiphany struck, "_She fears him because he's strong and intimidating like no one else, so that would mean whatever she's up against now is the same way. But Hinata? There's no way… it has to be someone else. Could they be related somehow?_"

The resident jonins of Konoha that were somewhat privy to the secrets beneath their feet wracked their brains for an answer that was too convoluted to understand as of yet. The unspoken mystery before them presented little more than assumptions and theories; solid proof would be needed for anything definite to be determined. Little did they know that the events to come would provide such evidence. If only they looked a little harder…

--

"Ah, man," Naruto yawned and stretched out on the warm floorboards within the renovated prison next to his private chamber. It might have been crudely constructed, but he found the small room to be rather comfortable. Almost made him jealous of its inhabitant.

"S-something t-the matter, C-curse?" Shia asked, glancing up from the book in her lap.

"Nothin'" the masked blonde returned, sitting back up to chase the sleep from his concealed eyes. "Just a long day."

"O-oh…" She reluctantly returned to the manuscript before her.

The Uzumaki smiled to himself; ever since he returned to Konoha with Tsunade in tow he had been spending almost all of his spare time with the disturbed girl. He would have preferred to locate Silence and do something with her, but his initial excursions to the Hub yielded nothing. "_She must be busy,_" he mused, glancing at the young brown-eyed girl across the room, "_But this was a good idea, too._"

His frequent and lengthy visits with Shia seemed to be helping; she was becoming more responsive, although her shy stutter hadn't made much progress. The undercover genius also discovered an unexpected benefit- he enjoyed spending time with her. As the days rolled on, he often found himself looking forward to dropping by and handing her some books he had 'checked out' from the Konoha library. "_It's like having a family, I think…_" he surmised, not really knowing since he never had any relatives himself.

Shia herself anticipated Curse's arrivals with nervous joy. She immensely enjoyed all the stuff he brought her- mainly the books. Her old base contained no reading material outside of mission statements. Outside of that, she always reported in orally, never actually writing anything herself. It was quicker but induced a major downside in the form of fledgling illiteracy. The auburn-haired girl was very happy indeed that someone was actually taking time out of their day to teach her this invaluable skill. This certain person was so kind…

Naruto suddenly stiffened in place, glancing upwards a bit into the ceiling with a perceptible stare that pierced the many layers of dirt and concrete. "_What's that?_" the blonde wondered, "_A strong presence… no… one, two… four of them?_"

"W-what is it?" Shia inquired, startled by the boy's swift movements.

The Uzumaki glanced back down at her and smiled to downplay his suspicion. "It's nothing," he assured, "How's the reading coming?"

"_He's hiding something,_" Aiya whispered in the back of her counterpart's mind, "_Find out what it is._"

Shia smiled back meekly and nodded. "I-I don't understand th-this one…" she tapped a long word within the thick book in her lap.

"Alright," he grunted as he stood, strode over to her, and then took a seat next to her. As he began correcting her when she read aloud, his mind was abuzz with what he felt a moment ago. "_It's like some kind of tainted chakra, but it feels familiar. Why does it ring a bell?_" He struggled to recall the similar sensation, his azure eyes widening when he finally realized it. "_It feels like Sasuke's chakra after he got that curse seal!_"

"I-is that how you s-say t-this?" the girl's voice broke him from his revelation.

He leaned in closer to get a better look and nodded. "Yeah, keep going." Noticing that she was trembling a little, he put an arm around her and started rubbing to warm her up. Unfortunately for him, he completely mistook the girl's reason for quivering.

Shia's body shook every so slightly out of nervousness. "_He's so close…_" she thought, flinching a little when physical contact was made. Upon being all but cradled in Curse's arms, her racing mind continued. "_He's so warm…_"

"_Hey retard!_" Aiya shouted, "_You gonna find out what he's hidin'?!_"

The disturbed girl was about to respond when she reconsidered it. "_No,_" she attempted to establish her resolve, "_Don't listen to her…_"

"_Don't listen to me?!_" the alternate personality shrieked, "_You have a death wish?! Do as I say!_"

The girl's dominant shy mindset faltered in the face of its counterpart's growing frustration. "_I-I don't w-want to…_"

"_Don't want to what?! Live?! 'Cause you won't be doin' any of that if you don't listen to me!_"

"_P-p-please d-don't y-yell…_"

The secondary self then went on a rage against the withdrawn girl's mind; she was furious, angrier than usual. She taunted and downplayed Shia's entire existence, crediting the shy girl's survival to herself and herself alone. Said disturbed preteen's eye's started to well up with tears; maybe Aiya was right? She had certainly never been wrong before…

"What's wrong?" a confused voice interrupted the mental skirmish.

"Eh?" she jumped, moisture building in her dull brown eyes. "I-i-it's A-Aiya…" She trailed off, voice blubbering as she started to cry. Suddenly, she was pulled to the side and buried in something warm. The tears halted out of shock and their owner blinked as she glanced up.

Naruto had put his other arm around her in a light hug. "C'mon," he said softly, "It'll be fine. You're still here, you're still you." He frowned behind his crimson mask. "_'You're still you'? What the hell am I saying?_" Shrugging internally, he decided that it was plausible given how much he knew about split personalities- that is to say, squat. "_Still,_" his internal voice took on a morose tone, "_I wish there was more I could do for her. I hate seeing her like this…_" He expected the small girl to bawl her eyes out for a while then probably fall asleep, but he was surprised at what transpired in place of this assumption.

Shia was smiling at him, salty tears staining her cheeks. "Th-thank y-you, Curse."

"_I'll be damned. This is the most progress I've ever seen in one go…_" He shot her his trademark foxy grin and replied, "No problem. You okay now?" When he received a satisfactory nod, he continued his unassigned task of literary teaching.

In the back of the disturbed girl's mind sat an unusually quiet aggressive personality. "_I can't believe it,_" Aiya muttered, her 'voice' hidden from the dominant self. "_She's ignoring me. She's making her own choices..._" If she was in control of her host's body, her face would be twisted in emotions she was not prone to displaying: shock with trace amounts of fear. "_What do I do now?_"

Endless seconds passed as the alternate self processed her situation. The very reason for her existence was being challenged and there was nothing she could do about it… until she recalled the root of the problem. "_It's Curse,_" she would have grit her teeth if she had any, "_He's the reason! Shia's ignoring me because he's taking my place! I have to do something about this…_"

--

The next morning, Hinata awoke to the sun shining through her window. "_Geez, I get a good night's sleep and I'm still tired,_" she whined internally, "_I guess I'll be taking a break today._" She rose and prepared for her unofficial day off, mildly relieved to be resting from her strenuous self-training. Her lips curled into a smirk when she reviewed how close she was to possessing her own water-based techniques; a few more days of practice and she'd have it down pat.

She all but skipped to her hideout with joy, taking care to avoid the main streets and evading the extra pair of eyes watching her. "_Is that who I think it is?_" she wondered, catching a glimpse of a suspicious jonin before easing her bloodline on for a moment to confirm an identity. "_Anko Mitarashi, eh? I guess Curse really did visit her…_"

The genius girl easily ditched the snake woman and arrived at her prized lab with excitement to spare. "Shiori, Ichirou! Morning!"

The reassembled Hyuugas eyed her oddly; their mistress was rarely in this good a mood. They instantly regretted having to ruin it for her.

"Ah, Mistress?" Shiori began, "Last night the forward sensors detected some intruders…"

"Oh shit," the undercover prodigy's shoulders slumped. "_Of course something had to happen on my day off…_"

"Four people entered Konoha illegally," the female assistant produced a slim folder containing darkened photos, "But five exited. I thought you might want to know."

"Thanks," she sighed while accepting the cream-colored document, still pissed about having to deal with potential intruders. She flipped through the grainy pictures, thinking, "_I need to install night vision on these damn things…_" An image of five retreating figures caught her eye and she thought the shortest silhouette looked familiar. "Any leads on who this one is?"

"That's Sasuke Uchiha!" Ichirou yelled from his station, his perpetual twitch ever present. "The new Hokage sent out a team this morning to bring him back!"

The intelligent girl's face lifted in surprise. She never figured the spoiled Uchiha to abandon the village; he had everything he could ever want here. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she continued with her standard questioning. "Which team did the Hokage send?"

"Ah, she didn't," Shiori answered with a cheerful smile. Immediately realizing her error, she clarified, "She assigned Shikamaru Nara to assemble a genin team of his choice." The partially alive Hyuuga then rattled off the impromptu squad's members, their unusual coalition causing Hinata to furrow her brow in concerned amusement.

"_What to do, what to do…_" She sighed, wondering if this incident was worth the trouble of investigating firsthand. "Any idea why Sasuke left?"

Ichirou leaned back in his seat again and shouted, "Some guy named Orochimaru…!"

"Orochimaru?!"

"Er… yes, Mistress." The man appeared somewhat bewildered by his creator's shocked outburst.

"I'm going after them!" Hinata stated loudly, flinging on her alter ego's gear as quickly as she could. She wavered as her new generator-laden footwear and shin guards caught her eye. "_Their primary purpose is to keep me from being dissolved by that energized liquid,_" she rationalized, "_But the charge in them is powerful nonetheless. It's real heavy, but I'll have to get used to it at some point._" After two seconds of contemplation, she nabbed the hunks of metal and secured them to her legs. Sure enough, they carried serious weight, but nothing to which she couldn't adapt.

"Watch the lab for me!" she commanded her assistants while rushing out the underground door. Silence made her way to the opening that led to the surface nearest the front gate that she knew of and activated her Byakugan. A few moments of intense searching and she spotted a handful of chakra signatures. They were a considerable distance away, but she could catch up without considerable difficulty.

The intelligent Hyuuga carefully snuck out of the village and began her swift trek through the heavy forest in pursuit of Sasuke's rookie retrieval team.

--

Naruto was a mixture of surprised, alleviated, and pissed. "_Sasuke, you ungrateful fuck…_" he cursed the Uchiha boy, "_You had everything going for you and you threw it away._" A thought struck him and he knew that this cloud did have a silver lining. "_Well, at least he'll be outta my hair. Who knows, if I can catch him with no one else watching I might be able to kill him and take his eyes! That would rock! It would be totally justified too…_" he struck that thought from his mind, "_No, no, the villagers would hate me for killing that asshole, even if he's a traitor._"

When the Uzumaki first laid eyes on the enemies transporting the Uchiha, he was taken aback by the red-haired girl. No introductions were necessary; he recognized her instantly. "_Tayuya, right? Damn! She's the spitting image of Takaimi. Wish I could talk to her…_" his brain's logical side flatly denied that notion, "_… But she's the offspring of Takaimi. I'd probably have to kill her first._ _Hope Shikamaru survives…_"

His impromptu team had completely fallen apart as each member detached to square off with the Sound shinobi one at a time. The blonde was the only one left pursuing his treacherous teammate. "Guh, should have killed that Kaguya and drained his blood…" he complained openly, regretting having to give up one freak for another, "I thought that bloodline died off. Who knew?"

As the blonde came within sight of the target and burst from the forest into a waterlogged valley with two massive stone statues, a feisty smirk adorned his face. "_Valley of the End? This is where the first Hokage fought Madara Uchiha, isn't it?_" His grin grew to reveal ivory teeth and he muttered, "It's just us, Sasuke… just you and me…"

--

Silence did her best to steer clear of the numerous battlefields, stopping only to administer enough aid to keep Chouji Akamichi and her cousin Neji alive. "_Hope no one notices my handiwork,_" she thought, "_Nah, I only did the bare minimum. No one'll know._"

As she passed through the trees she felt her leg muscles acclimating to the heavy footwear. "_Man, my legs are gonna be sore tomorrow…_" she grimaced as she stepped off another branch, leaving behind yet more imprints of her steel boots in the wood. Suddenly, she noticed two beings heading her way. She masked her presence and darted away into a particularly thick brush in a rushed attempt to hide. It worked, since the duo passed by without giving a second glance. "_Was that who I think it is?_" her brow furrowed behind her dull azure mask, "_What was her name? Temari? Eh, whatever. Gotta catch up- hello…_"

Hinata halted the moment she found a sea of devastated forestry, trees cleanly sliced up and toppled every which way. She leapt from perch to perch, careful to keep out of sight until her bloodline caught a figure partially buried under the wooden rubble. She approached the body and stifled a gasp.

"Holy crap," she proclaimed under her breath, "It's Takaimi's daughter." The prodigy knelt by the older girl and whistled. "Geez, spitting image of her. Alright," she cracked her fingers, "Let's see what we got here…"

The Hyuuga analyzed the defeated enemy with bloodline eyes, noting all her injuries with deliberating care. "_She pretty much just got crushed, but she's not dead yet,_" she concluded, "_No way to revive her permanently. But I think something temporary might work._" Silence placed her healing hands over the adversary and began working her magic. Slowly, the essential internal organs were revived and consciousness was guaranteed, but it wouldn't last long. Tayuya's injuries were too severe to survive beyond Hinata's miraculous technique.

"Huh? Wha…?" the crimson-haired girl blubbered as awareness crept back into her brain. A few seconds passed and her amber eyes shot open as she remembered what happened to her. "Shit… ow! Fuck!"

"Calm down," Silence placed a hand on the doomed female's chest to keep her from attempting to rise.

"Where the fuck are you touching, bitch?!"

"_Yep, that's Takaimi's daughter all right,_" she thought with a bemused smile. "Calm down," she repeated, "And listen up."

"Shut up," her breathing was beginning to waver and become heavy. She had expended most of her revitalized energy and was already slipping. "Damn it… can't move…"

"I got a message from your mother."

A tint of startled anger flashed in Tayuya's eyes. "The fuck? Mom? Didn't know the bitch was still alive."

"She was; I knew her. Do you know what her final words were?"

"Pfft, fuck if I care," she replied harshly, "She ran away a long time ago."

"She didn't. She got sent to Konoha as punishment for trying to kill Orochimaru."

"Bullshit," she wheezed. Her organs were constricting. "You're just makin' shit up…"

"Tayuya," Hinata stated, catching the dying ninja's attention, "I don't know what you think, but I did know her. She loved you a lot…"

"Goddamn it, shut up!" she shouted with renewed, if failing, energy. The foul-mouthed girl attempted to argue but was cut off by the stranger hovering over her with a golden locket in hand.

"She carried this around," the Hyuuga stated as she opened the fancy jewelry and held the contained picture before the prone girl who stared at it with a curious gaze. "Her final request was to see you again."

As soon as the faded photo reached Tayuya's amber eyes she went into a veritable trance. She remembered that day like a ray of sunshine piercing through a sky of darkened clouds. Funny thing, she never remembered her mother so clearly until now…

--**(Flashback)**--

It was a big day for the young redhead; it was her fifth birthday. Her mom had promised her an awesome gift and Tayuya was practically bouncing off the hovel walls with joy.

"Tayu," a familiar rough voice called, "C'mon! Let's go get you a present!"

"Coming!" the child bounded out the door of the rundown hut she shared with her sole parent. She grabbed her mother's hand and started down the trashy streets of her slum neighborhood, unbothered by the general desolation of her surroundings. She had been around places like this all her life, so it didn't get to her like it would some people.

She walked for what had to be miles with her mom's hand clenched over hers the entire way. Her young eyes gazed in wonder and curiosity as the scenery changed around them from endless ghettos to middle class markets; the new buildings were so bright and cheerful and extremely clean, too.

"Here it is, Tayu," the intimidating form of her mom said, aiming her head at one shop in particular with a gruff smile that only the five-year-old ever seemed to witness. "I know you'll like what's in here."

Tayuya could barely conceal her excitement as she entered the establishment that turned out to be a music store. "Kickass!" she squealed, having picked up the choice word from her single parent. Her hand unlocked from Takaimi's and she started running up and down the messy but organized aisles in search of something she would fancy.

"Hey, kid!" a voice rang out, breaking the young girl's starry gaze at a rack of small instruments. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What?" She was confused, wasn't this place open to everyone?

"We don't cater to trash like you." The man aimed a finger at her clothes. "Get out."

"Trash?" The bewildered girl held out her shirt to analyze it. It was really nice compared to her neighbors' back in the slums; it only had a few holes and tears, and they were all patched up…

"You deaf?" the man grabbed her by the back of the neck and shoved her toward the exit, "I said get out…"

He never finished that sentence- a steel laced boot slammed into his face and knocked him back a few feet. His head reeled back with total shock adorning his features as well as a few missing teeth and a bloody nose. "The hell?!"

"Hey," the amber-eyed smoker took a swig of whiskey from a flask then returned the container to her worn leather belt. She sported an unpleasant grin that screamed punishment. "What's up?"

The man choked on the blood rushing through his nasal cavity and another man, probably the store owner from the looks of his clothes, rushed over to him. "Riusha!" he addressed the ailing asshole then glanced at Takaimi with accusing eyes, "What the hell's your problem?!"

"I just came in here to get something for my daughter," the crimson-haired woman stated, "That's it."

"You kicked my teeth out!" the injured man sputtered.

"You touched my daughter," she returned without skipping a beat, "I think we're about even."

"Now you listen to me…" the proprietor raised an accusatory finger.

"Tayu," Takaimi ignored the angry man to lean down and face the girl hiding behind her legs with a surprisingly pleasant smile, "Go outside and wait for me."

"But what about what you told me?"

"It'll be fine," she snickered and ran a hand through her daughter's hair, "This is a safe neighborhood. You ain't getting' kidnapped here."

"Um…" she hesitated. She always did when her mom got into these altercations. "Okay."

"I'll be out in a minute!" the harsh woman called before turning to face down the assholes before her with a grin that resembled a snarl. "You're so fucking dead…"

Tayuya did as her mother instructed; she stood outside the door of the music store, bright young eyes scanning the bustling street with wonder. Sure enough, a minute passed and her single parent exited the facility with her usual rough smile. "Are you okay, mom?"

"I'm fine," she laughed as she pulled something long and shiny from a box before handing the object to the girl. "Here's your present!"

"Kickass!" she liked that word; it sounded cool. "What is it?!"

"It's a flute. You can make music with it."

"Like you, mom?"

She smiled a toothy grin. "You bet! Just like your awesome mom! Now," she hefted the five-year-old above her shoulders, "Let's race!"

"Yeah!" the girl cheered as her mother started running for all she was worth, "Go!" She loved this game; she got to play it with her mom every time police showed up. She glanced back and, sure enough, the distinct agents of authority were crowding around the musical establishment while people pointed her way.

Long minutes passed and the police disappeared from view as Tayuya and her mother laughed joyously in the gushing wind. Takaimi eventually slowed and brought her daughter back down to the earth, giggling every bit as much as the girl.

"That was fun!" the young redhead proclaimed with raised hands.

"Yeah, it was!" She shared her offspring's enthusiasm. "Hey, you wanna go visit Nuren?"

"Yeah!" she agreed instantly. She liked Nuren; he was hilarious. He and his parents were always taking this stuff called 'acid' that made then walk and talk funny. She visited them with her mom after playing the race game more often than not. She grasped her mother's hand and the duo began a casual stroll down the street once more.

"Hey, you two," an eager merchant stepped in their path a respectable distance away, "Care for a photo? Capture this moment, guaranteed."

The young girl peered up at her lone parent whose features displayed consideration. Her mom then reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace with some golden jewelry attached to it. She recognized the locket, remembering the day when several of her mother's friends playfully mocked the woman without mercy regarding the shiny object.

"Can you fit it for this?" Takaimi asked.

"You bet, ma'am."

She grinned. "Let's go for it. Tayu!" she addressed the excited girl with her usual rough smile, "Picture time!"

--**(end flashback)**--

Hinata didn't know what flashed through the defeated girl's mind, but whatever it was, it must have been as nostalgic as it could get. "_She's… crying?_"

The dying foul-mouthed shinobi sniffled as she weakly reached for the open pendant and clasped a trembling hand over it. Beads of tears formed in her amber eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. Her grasp on the jewelry tightened and her eyelids screwed shut, forcing the salty moisture to flow down her cheeks.

"Damn it mom," she muttered, holding the locket to her chest with an iron grip, "Let's race…" she took a taxing breath, "One more time…"

And with that, Tayuya of the Sound Five passed on, the final memento of her mother firmly clutched in a death grip. The Hyuuga stood to her feet, keeping her gaze fixated on to the deceased adversary before nodding and continuing on her way.

As she departed she couldn't help but envy the foul-mouthed ninja in a strange way. "_I have no idea if it's heaven or hell that awaits them,_" she pondered, her masked features sullen at her thoughts, "_But at least they're together…_"

--

Naruto caught up with Sasuke and stood opposite him on the massive monument of the first Hokage. The undercover prodigy initially figured a little fight would ensue, the Uchiha would bitch and moan a lot, and the blonde would end the day dragging his 'comrade' back to the city without too much damage. However, every word the treacherous boy uttered angered the Uzumaki more and more. It was only a matter of time until Curse would hear no more and beat the self-proclaimed genius into a carpet stain while smiling the whole way.

"…Let me make this clear to you," Sasuke brought his selfish speech to a conclusion, "My childish games with you Leafs are over. Go home."

And that did it. The blonde's projected façade silently cracked and shattered into a thousand glass shards that blew away in the wind with ashes and dust that would soon follow. Naruto's features which had been falsely portrayed as a shocked and angry child melted away and a sick smile arose in their place alongside bemused azure eyes.

"So that's it, eh?" He started lightly tapping his foot against the stone ground as his body shifted into a relaxed position, "We're just playing childish games, huh?"

The Uchiha's brow narrowed; this was a deviation in the idiot he knew. "_What's he up to?_" he wondered, his dark eyes betraying his minor concern. "Yes. Orochimaru alone can give me more power than the peace-loving Leaf village. Your little games…"

"Peaceful, are we?" he interrupted, his voice laced with sarcastic bemusement. His brilliant eyes angled inwards in a frown and he glared at the newfound adversary with a growing smirk. "You know," he began as if about to impart some sagely wisdom to a child, "There's another city beneath Konoha." His mind tensed with giddy anticipation upon noticing that he had the enemy's full attention. "And if you ever find it, ask anyone there about the curse that dwells in those tunnels." The blonde's right hand started moving casually towards his face while Sasuke's eyes widened.

"_A… curse?_" he sputtered inwardly, hardly believing his ears.

"They'll all tell you the same thing…" his voice continued as his arm passed the halfway point.

"No, it couldn't be…"

The Uzumaki's sick grin spanned the width of his face as his open palm covered half his face, initiating the desired illusion. "That's right," he congratulated dully as the temporary genjutsu activated and flashed the familiar crimson mask over the blonde's face, encompassing his entire head within the flowing red mane of mock hair. The illusion passed to reveal Naruto's ever-present smile. "And now you know."

"You…" the remaining Uchiha stuttered. His flustered mind raced with a thousand reactions at once; shock, anger, resentment, and… was that fear? "You're Curse?" his quiet voice asked.

"You got it… weak little boy," he added with emphasis.

The Sharingan snapped on as a building rage flowed through Sasuke's veins; he had been upstaged by the dead last in his class in a big way. "No! I refuse to admit it!" he shouted in denial, "You _can't_ be better than me! You're the dead last! The loser!"

Naruto merely smiled calmly at the insult. "And yet you already forgot my first lesson."

"What?" Sasuke said, missing the meaning of the true genius's phrase. When his intelligent counterpart aimed a casual finger at him, he turned around and immediately leapt off his stone perch with all the speed he could muster. "Holy shit!" His legs carried him with amazing swiftness down the side of the monument, a duo of blonde clones pursuing him with familiar chained gauntlets attached to their arms. "_He made more clones just like last time!_" he realized, recalling how Curse misled him the first time around by creating earthen copies by tapping a foot against the ground. Swearing under his breath, he formed the appropriate seals, reeled back with chakra building in his chest, then lurched forward, spewing forth a ball of flame that engulfed the clones.

"_Not so tough,_" he congratulated himself as he came to rest on craggy solid ground right above the reservoir. "_Now where'd he… rain?_" He glanced up then dove into the lake, narrowly avoiding being drilled into the dirt by a sudden tornado of water.

"Phew," Curse commented sarcastically as he landed easy on the perch that once supported the Uchiha, "Using a fireball right next to a lake? Oh yeah, you're a genius all right…"

"Damn it," he sputtered while channeling chakra through his limbs and stood over the tiny waves. "_I've got to end this quick,_" he surmised before grasping his left wrist and invoking his specialty- the chidori.

"Ooh," Naruto cooed, clearly unimpressed, "I'll bet your electric bill's through the roof…"

"Shut up!" the Sharingan user retorted as he charged for all he was worth, his bloodline slowing time down in his brain.

That smug grin returned to the blonde's lips as he tunneled his natural energy through the rock beneath his feet and into the reservoir. An instant later, dozens of water clones emerged from the cool liquid and drew weapons ranging from standard kunai blades to wired needles. If Sasuke wanted to hit the genius, he had to go through this impromptu army first.

The surviving bloodline member dodged around the crowding copies, all but shoving his way through the sluggish clones as his copied technique chirped in the air like a hundred birds. "_I can get him, I can get him…_" he repeated internally as he inched closer and closer to the target. "_There're no more damn clones in the way; I've got him!_"

The Uchiha slammed his crackling palm through the statuesque genius… and Naruto melted into sloppy mud. "What the hell?!" the Sharingan user swore as he tried to withdraw only to find he couldn't- the soil caked over his arm had solidified with the density of iron.

A thunderous laughter sounded off behind him and his head spun to find not dozens of clones, but rather hundreds… everywhere. The lake's edge visibly lowered as aquatic copies of Curse rose from the surface and the cliffs on both sides of the valley were lined with endless rows of orange-clad ninjas, every single pair of eyes focused on him and him alone.

"So," the clone at the forefront of the horde spoke with a chuckle, "Which one were you aiming for?"

Indescribable fury rose in the spoiled boy's chest and another blast of electric chakra coursed through his trapped arm, freeing him from the earth-based technique. Maintaining the cascading lightning in his palm, Sasuke blindly lashed out at the copy that spoke, reducing it to water and receiving a bit of a shock himself as the electrified liquid splattered on his arm. "_Oh damn,_" he thought, fully realizing the implications of what just transpired.

And so it began- the second battle at the Valley of the End that would have impressed its first combatants, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, had they witnessed the opponents' ages. The Uchiha had never worked so hard in his life; he ran across the cliff walls while spitting every fire technique he had ever mastered and barely made a dent in the wave of Narutos while the orange-clad copies moved as a single organism, laughing and smiling the whole way as if at a Sunday picnic. Curse was obviously toying with the self-proclaimed prodigy, and that only served to further agitate the Sharingan user into pouring more power into his movements and techniques.

The real Uzumaki ran in the relative center of the pack, easily hidden from the legendary bloodline and well protected by layers of water and earth-based clones should anything go awry. Nothing unfortunate transpired, so the blonde prodigy felt it safe to be a little… reckless.

Sasuke leapt off the steep valley wall onto the water below in an area where the opposing copies weren't as concentrated and began running across the gradually rising reservoir, tossing kunai and shuriken at the individual clones that stood in the way until he had no more remaining weapons. He grit his teeth upon realizing this along with the fact that he couldn't scavenge any tools of war from his adversaries, seeing as how those were mere copies as well and would disappear with their corresponding owners. Percieving no further options, he leapt up and attached his feet to the opposite cliffs of the valley and started upwards, intending to take his chances with the earthen Curses above and flee.

He suddenly stopped and changed direction in an instant; dozens of massive ninja stars peppered the rocks ahead of him, all of them lined with sparkling explosive tags. The self-proclaimed genius charged hell-bent along the center of the rock wall searching for a gap in the columns of ever increasing airborne weaponry. Sharingan blazing, he spotted such an opportunity, however tiny it was, and ran for it…

Only to have the blind spot fill with sharp steel that was decorated with smoking tags. In the span of a heartbeat, a handful turned into a dozen, then a dozen transformed into hundreds- each and every weapon adorned with explosive seals whose many timers burned away…

The Uchiha dove from the vertical position into the waters below and a massive explosion that rocked the valley erupted from the cavalcade of various weapons. From beneath the heated waves, the self-appointed prodigy clearly saw the ensuing fireball engulf his entire field of vision; it was massive. Before the conflagration receded, the spoiled boy distinctly felt the lake's level rise as the water clones dispersed and heard thunderous noises impacting the choppy surface as chunks of the valley were loosened and succumbed to gravity. When he was certain that this particular storm had passed, he swam up and broke the surface.

While Sasuke visited the fish, Naruto had to enact a last ditch effort to not get burned by his own attack. His earth based clones, in a heroic act of self-sacrifice, thrust their bodies in the path of the fireball's wake and took the brunt of the blast, reducing all but a few to dust. The blonde's water copies picked up where their muddy brethren left off and smothered their originator as the overwhelming heat came upon him, dispersing into cool, refreshing water as the approaching flames grazed them. In the end, the Uzumaki rose amidst a mere handful of his once mighty imitation army. He smirked to himself; he suffered more damage by his own hand rather than his opponent could inflict.

As that thought passed through the boy's mind, the Uchiha emerged from the choppy waters while coughing up trace amounts of water and gasping for breath; he had never been involved with this much action in his entire life until now. The Sharingan user banished exhaustion from his mind as best he could and brought his arm down for another chidori. "_This has to be it,_" he mused as the crackling light grew in his palm, "_Any more of this and I'll have to use the curse seal._"

Little did he know that this was exactly what Curse desired. "_He's about out of chakra,_" he analyzed, "_I'll evade this shot and force him to use that seal Orochimaru gave him._" The blonde didn't merely wish to see said mark in action; he wanted to push his former comrade to his limits then surpass them. He wanted to see the hope in Sasuke's eyes before he rendered it futile, to reveal to the self-appointed genius how weak he was even in his strongest state.

He didn't want to defeat the Uchiha, he wanted to _break_ him.

As predicted, said opponent charged with shrieking electricity in hand, and Naruto's superior reflexes allowed him to easily avoid it.

--

Kakashi had heard the news regarding his pupil's defection and the ensuing retrieval effort shortly after he arrived in the village from a solo mission. Out of a sense of duty, not to mention mild panic, he followed after his warring students, hoping against all odds that he got there in time.

As he passed through the air he heard an explosion and felt the ground beneath his feet tremble with the aftershock. "My God," he proclaimed as he halted in surprise, "That was… I don't know..." Words failed him and his brain kicked in, reminding him to continue his pursuit. "_Whatever that was, it wasn't close. But for me to feel it all the way out here… it's incredible!_"

Unbeknownst to the Hatake, Silence currently thought the same thing. "_Good lord!_" she thought, "_That was one hell of a bomb! Naruto and Sasuke must really be tearing it up!_" Sadly for her, she didn't stop to consider how such a fiery discharge was initiated. She unconsciously knew no normal ninja carried that many exploding tags but failed to make the connection in her concentration to remain unseen as she rapidly traveled through the forest.

--

The Sharingan user had fallen to his opponent's ploy and was forced to induce the powers locked away in his new curse seal. He stood at the base of Madara's monument as the tattoos that resembled flames spread like a visual plague across his body, slowly consuming his flesh and transforming his corporeal form. Soon enough, his features had changed drastically, the most radical of the transformation being the growth of oversized fingers for wings.

Curse watched the unfolding events with a smile that developed with the unholy marks. When the metamorphosis was complete he got a good look at Sasuke's more… effeminate aspects, and then burst out in a fit of laughter that would have done Jiraiya's perverted cackle justice.

"Holy crap!" the blonde wiped tears away from the corners of his azure eyes, "Did you change gender?!" When he received a near lethal glare in response, he continued with more joviality. "Seriously, are your pants a little looser now?! Missing a little somethin'…?!"

"Laugh all you want, Naruto," the tainted teen warned with a foreboding voice as he brought his hand down in display of yet another chidori. This time, however, the technique chirped with an unholy sickly aura. "This will be the end of you."

The blonde's good mood died away. "Fine, have it your way," he returned as he unsealed his favored ninjato from his tattooed seal and aimed it at his enemy in a challenging gesture. "Let's finish this today."

The Uchiha rushed forward and his corrupted technique clashed with the Uzumaki's burning blade. The battling duo then began an uneasy dance that lacked any grace whatsoever with their weapons of choice, the sparkling electricity harmlessly glancing off the seal-encrusted blade that hummed with soft layers of wind that were only strong enough to deflect the tainted chakra. Naruto had only recently initiated attempts at what he found to be an affinity of his, hence his inability to perfectly counteract this freakishly strong force. "_Man, Takaimi must've been a badass to use the wind element so well…_"

Sasuke started to feel weak against this fellow genius despite every advantage he possessed. His bloodline was said to be superior amongst all others, yet the blonde could evade its sight long enough to continue the battle without betraying his secrets. The curse seal inflicted by the snake Sannin gave him the ability to prolong his chakra stores and strengthen his repertoire of techniques, but the opposing prodigy faced it without batting an eye. "_Could I really still be this weak?_" he wondered as he maneuvered through the air to obtain a clear shot at his adversary, "_Even with all this extra power, can I still not win?_"

Likewise, Naruto was having doubts of his own, albeit of another category. "_I'm tired of this,_" he observed his inner emotions, "_If I kill Sasuke, the village will hate me more than it already does. Even if I kill him and hide the body it'll come out eventually; Orochimaru will make sure of that._" His facial features remained stone cold as he reached a verdict on his internal monologue. "_I'll just have to let him go. Give him the opportunity to leave and get him outta my hair entirely. Besides,_" he thought of an upside, "_I'll probably run into him again as Curse and kill him then; no one'll ever know…_"

The fight dragged on with neither side faltering in their movements until both sides could feel the drain on their reserves. The blonde, continuously drawing energy from the imprisoned fox, faked his waning strength until he could clearly perceive his enemy's exhaustion. At that moment, he released an excessive load of the demonic power within his system and overwhelmed his tired opponent with an unseen oppression that pulsed in the air.

"_He's still got that much left?!_" the Uchiha wheezed, "_It can't be… he isn't human!_"

The Uzumaki noted the enemy's faltering moment and acted on it by dashing forward and promptly slicing a wing off. Sasuke turned at the sharp pain only to witness the remaining twisted appendage forcibly removed by a whisk of the seal-laden blade. Thankfully, there weren't many nerves in the attachments so he didn't falter as he lunged at his enemy with a fading chidori…

But his speed was decreased enough that Naruto grasped his wrist in a steel grip and, without flinching a muscle, pulled the tainted electricity into the Curse's shoulder, searing the flesh away and cauterizing the wound in one motion. With that out of the way, the copied move sputtered and died, leaving behind a truly drained Uchiha with a receding curse mark.

The blonde didn't smile smugly or remark sarcastically; he merely stood resolute with iron fingers digging into the shocked boy's limb. "Leave," Curse commanded without hesitation or remorse, "If you want your revenge so badly, leave."

That remark struck the Sharingan user as odd. He was letting him go? Allowing him to survive? Pitying him? He grit his teeth at that last notion. "I don't need your sympathy…!"

"Shut up!" his grip tightened and threatened to snap the tendons in the captured wrist. "Don't think for a second that I feel sorry for you, you worthless shit! I hate you and everything you stand for and would love nothing more than to kill you myself!"

"Then why don't you?!"

Curse said nothing for a moment as he contemplated a response. "I have my reasons. Until then, I'm telling you to leave and never come back." He released his grasp in a shove and stared down the weakened Sasuke with a gaze that oozed with authority and intimidation.

The defeated Uchiha returned the glare with his own spite then started limping away, his body beaten and his pride irreparably damaged. Orochimaru would have his container, although the snake master could never have contemplated the events set in motion by his selfish actions. Future conflict was inevitable, and next time there would be no mercy.

Naruto glanced down and scooped up the gashed village headband that had once belonged to the Sharingan user. "_Must have scratched it with the sword,_" he concluded, reminding himself to reseal his prized blade. That action accentuated the horrific wound in his shoulder and he lied down on the warm ground as the dark clouds overhead started weeping over the battlefield. "Ugh, this stings like hell," he commented, closing his eyes to rest, "Guess I'll sleep it off…" He didn't finish his sentence before unconsciousness forced itself on his weary body, whisking him away to dream of another world and different times.

As the blonde slipped into a near comatose slumber, Silence arrived on the desecrated scenery. Her mouth parted behind her dull azure mask in awe of the altered landscape; deep cuts decorated the valley walls in a tapestry of jagged stone and a massive chunk of rock was missing, leaving behind a respectable charred crater that still glowed with smoking heat. Hinata was about to move to secretly tend to the prone genin's dire injuries when her Byakugan checked the motion; someone else had arrived on the scene.

Kakashi knelt next to his charge, regret washing over him as fluidly as the raindrops falling from the sky. "Naruto," he muttered, "Why like this…?" The shinobi hound, Pakkun, sniffed the nearby metal headband and confirmed it to be the missing ninja's and the Hatake lifted the blonde into his arms. "Was your fate inevitably death?" he wondered aloud. Truth be told, he felt guilty that things turned out this way. Worse yet, his previous suspicions of the Uzumaki being some form of threat while Sasuke turned out to be the issue deepened his sorrow. "_Could I ever be forgiven for this?_"

As the infamous jonin swiftly exited the warzone, the concealed Hyuuga felt a pang of sadness as well. Naruto, for all his boisterous foolishness, was a good guy; hardworking, dependable, and loyal to a fault. Losing him would be far more devastating than the Uchiha.

Knowing that she now had to return home, she struck those thoughts from her mind to the best of her ability. "_What can I do about it now, anyway?_"

--

Days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Time passed quickly for those involved with Sasuke and everyone who pursued him.

Sakura had coerced the fifth Hokage to take her on as an apprentice and was making excellent headway. Ever since the day Naruto returned beaten and bandaged, she had resolved to not rely on others so heavily without pulling her weight as well. Her drive was inspired by the failures of her past and she was finally on the correct path of a shinobi.

When the pink-haired ninja heard her blonde teammate's reiteration of his promise, she felt something. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was an inkling of an indescribably feeling towards the loud idiot. These days, her mind repeated over and over that her new training was ultimately meant to return Sasuke, but now her loyalty to her squad mate was beginning to morph into something else.

The Uzumaki, naturally, recovered quickly. He was officially discharged from the hospital after a week, although he was known to sneak out more often than the orderlies cared to admit. As soon as he was free from the confines of the clean white sheets he spent his supposedly relaxed days developing a new technique spawned from the lessons required to use the rasengan. It was far from perfect, but once completed it would be unstoppable.

He had also spent more time with Shia and even began to work with her in the ninja arts. It was an odd situation with her; she had no training in basic chakra molding and had difficulties with the simplest of moves, yet she understood and could operate advanced elemental seals. The blonde genius would have considered such a feat impossible, but here it was in the flesh; undeniable truth that miracles really did exist.

At the same time he found that not only did he enjoy the brown-haired girl's company, he also started to feel this strange attachment to her. He had no idea what this unusual feeling was, but it was a warm and fulfilling sensation that had previously been reserved for Silence's presence.

Hinata also continued her work, although she rarely ventured from her lab and concealed training area whenever she was 'occupied'. She was eternally grateful that everyone who ventured against the Sound shinobi returned alive and made full recoveries. While she had not been on the mission herself, she viewed it as an opportunity to learn what it was like to fail a mission. To be sure, things could have gone worse, but a flopped assignment was still a failure.

She met up with Curse a few times in the Hub and they had fascinating conversations regarding their experiments and private lives, although neither revealed their true identities. Friendliness aside, their competitive streak still lived on without indication of dying anytime soon. Still, the Hyuuga enjoyed those pleasant moments. Outside of that, she filled her time perfecting her homegrown water techniques and honing her current skills. It was like a whole new world had been opened up to her pale eyes now that the Sound threat had been expunged from the subterranean caverns.

But as with all things even good times had to come to a close. According to an agreement with Jiraiya, Naruto was to begin a three year training excursion upon the third month following his failed mission. The day he was to leave crept up on him, and he knew there were things he had to do that were… unpleasant… before he could leave. Loose ends had to be tied up regardless of how he felt about them.

In the early morning long before the sun rose on the day of departure, he saddled Shia with a pack brimming with necessities; sleeping bag, camping gear, food, and, of course, a hefty sum of money. The disturbed girl didn't understand why he gave this to her but accepted it nonetheless. The blonde then instructed her to lead him towards the open tunnel that allowed the Sound reconnaissance force entry into the hive system. Upon reaching the grand hall leading to the exit, the Uzumaki turned to the girl at his side.

"Shia," he said with a sullen tone, "I'm sorry but… it's time for you to go…"

"W-w-what?" she proclaimed, shock apparent on her auburn features, "W-why?"

He sighed; this wasn't going to be easy for either of them. During their time together he had unconsciously grown attached to her, coming to see her as some kind of family or confidant. "I have to go away for a while," he stroked the back her head gently, "A real long time."

"B-but y-y-you'll be back, r-right?" The tears were already welling up in her eyes. "Y-you always c-come b-b-back…"

"Yeah, but I'll be gone for three years. I won't be able to support you…"

"C-can't I g-go with you?" she pleaded, her face betraying her panic.

He put his other hand on her shoulder and squeezed, trying to build up the resolve to say 'no' but only finding enough to shake his head. Shia's brown eyes immediately began to overflow with salty tears and he knelt before her and trapped her in a firm embrace. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear, "I really wish I could take you with me, but I can't."

"W-why not?"

This was a tough one; he had to think about it carefully. He pulled her back a bit and gazed inter her eyes through his mirrored mask. "It's… really complicated. I know that's a terrible answer, but there are a lot of things about me I never told you…"

She didn't argue, opting out to cry and sniffle instead.

The blonde pulled her back into the tight hug. "I know it's cruel to ask you to do this. It feels like all I ever do is take away from you and give nothing back…"

Shia's weeping escalated and her small arms wrapped around him as she drenched his shoulder. Naruto instinctively knew that speaking right now would be bad, so he merely held her close; slowly rocking back and forth like a parent would a distraught child. Minutes passed and he felt no less horrible about doing this to her, so he decided to continue and get it over with.

He rubbed her back as her crying hit a lull then pulled her back far enough so that he could gaze at her moist eyes. "I want you to find someone who will care for you. Someone who's kind and will keep you safe no matter what."

The disturbed girl's eyes were red from the hard sobbing and she choked a sniffle as she rubbed her face with her sleeve. Her mind was in no less sorrow, but she had spent enough time with Curse to understand that she could trust him; he had never purposefully led her astray and always acted in her best interests. "C-curse," she stuttered, "D-do y-you have t-t-to go? I-is this r-really th-the only way?"

The Uzumaki nodded slightly and was relieved when the crying did not begin anew; this was already hard enough for him. He started to pull her back into an embrace when she spoke again.

"Curse, c-can I-I see your f-face?"

He paused and found it odd how he had never removed his mask in this sweet girl's presence. "Yeah," he acknowledged quietly as he placed a palm over the crimson visage and slid it off, his springy blonde hair fluttering in the air as it was freed from its confining mane.

Shia stared in wonder. She and her elder brother shared similar muted traits; that is, muddy brown hair with eyes to match. Curse however had brilliant and distinct features. Those whisker birthmarks that reminded her of a fox, that pair of brilliant azure eyes that resembled backlit whirlpools, and golden hair that radiated with its own illumination. "_He's so pretty…_"

"Shia," Naruto placed his hands gently on her shoulders to break her from her trance, "Can you promise me that? Can you promise me that you'll find someone good to take care of you?" His voice was filled with hurt as he said this; even the disturbed girl could hear it.

She nodded, grimacing with tears and sadness. "_This has to be done,_" she concluded, "_Curse says it's the only way._"

Endless minutes passed as the two remained locked in a tight embrace, neither wanting to let go as they attempted to resign themselves to this sad fate. Eventually, Curse was the one to break the intimate gesture as he pulled away slowly. Noting that his adopted charge still carried grief on her face, he ran his hand through her hair to reveal her brow before leaning in and kissing her forehead.

Needless to say, this shocked her from her reverie. "C-curse…" she started.

"Be a good girl," he placed his forehead against hers, "Always remember that I love you. You're very special to me and I'll never forget you." He stood and gazed down at the girl whose brown eyes stared back.

Tears formed once again in the corners of her eyes, but this time a small smile forced its way through. "Thank y-you, Curse," she said before bolting away, denying the waterworks permission to flow again. Her stuffed pack shifted with her swift footsteps which grew more distant as the seconds passed.

The Uzumaki watched the girl depart until she was out of sight. As soon as she became indistinguishable in his vision, he wiped a tear from his eye and donned his crimson mask again. "Goodbye Shia," he murmured, "I really will miss you."

--

Silence sailed through the dim caverns; her cameras recently installed in the Hub picked up Curse and she felt like taking a break and seeing him before she had to head home to avoid arousing suspicion; she loved playing hooky with her father's curfew. "_I wonder what Curse has up his sleeve today?_" she mused happily.

She arrived at the unspoken rendezvous point with a soft clang of her steel footwear; her legs were becoming accustomed to the weight but she still had a ways to go before becoming truly silent whenever she took a step. "Hey, Curse," she greeted cheerily with a slight wave. "What's up?"

He merely regarded her with a sullen stare that magically pierced his crimson mask. "Hey," he started, melancholy practically dripping off his voice, "There's, uh… something I need to tell you."

Hinata cocked her head. "_This isn't like him,_" she observed, "_Something bad must've happened._"

"I'm gonna be gone for a while," he continued, "Um, in fact, it'll be so long that there's no way you won't figure out who I am."

"_Oh my God…_" her heart skipped a beat, "_Is this who I think it is?_"

"So… uh… congratulations!" he smiled with mock enthusiasm as he reached for his crimson visage. His hands grasped the hard mask and slid it off, revealing the undeniable features of Naruto Uzumaki. "You won this round," he stated with a sad smile, "Guess that makes me a step behind, huh?"

The female genius stared at him through her solid visage with shocked Byakugan eyes. "N-Naruto?!" she exclaimed, "Is that you?!" She focused her bloodline to ensure that this wasn't merely a powerful illusion to find that it wasn't; her fellow prodigy was none other than the village pariah.

"Yep," he smiled humbly, "Now you know. Guess my closest secret's gone now, eh?"

It took the Hyuuga a few lengthy seconds to process everything. "_It all makes sense now,_" she analyzed, "_The Shadow clones, the toad summons and Jiraiya… all of it!_" Her brain continued to dwell over everything and form a few questions regarding… inconsistencies she had noted throughout the years when the blonde's voice broke her from her reverie. "Eh? What?" she was startled, "_Damn it, I've gotta kill that damn habit. It's gonna get me in trouble one day._"

"Yeah, uh," Curse said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "Like I said, I'm gonna be going on a three year trip with Jiraiya. So… I figured I'd just let the cat out of the bag before- hey, what are you…?"

For some reason, Silence felt the urge to not leave things like this. She had been interacting with her fellow prodigy long enough to respect him and even consider him an ally and a friend. And since friends don't withhold secrets…

"Holy crap," the blonde whispered as his temporary partner flipped her own solid mask off to reveal familiar short blue hair and shining pale eyes. "Hinata? It's you…?"

"Yep," she replied with a smile, "Guess we're even now."

"I… I can't believe this…" Every recollection of the shy girl raced through his mind, enforcing how easily he had been duped. "You," a wide grin grew on his face, "Really fooled me! You got me good!"

She giggled. "I could say the same thing about you. Looks like we're both too smart for our own good."

The two stood opposite each other and had a good laugh regarding the other's trickery; not only were they talented enough to deceive an entire shinobi village, they also possessed enough skill to mislead each other. Almost like a match made in heaven…

The joviality of the situation subsided a bit but not by much. Stepping forward, Hinata held out a film-covered palm in a friendly gesture. "C'mon," she said with an unbending smile, "Here's to your training with Jiraiya. Hope it goes well!"

Naruto accepted the handshake and said, "Same with you! Good luck on your experiments!"

After a few seconds of vigorous engagement in the amicable gesture, both geniuses threw caution to the wind and wrapped their arms around the other like age-old buddies who had grown up together. Ironically enough, it summed up their reality with startling accuracy.

"Ah, I'm gonna miss you," the blonde exclaimed with an exaggerated sigh and a smile.

"So will I," the Hyuuga consented before giggling and pulling away and peering at him with a mischievous grin, "You better learn something new; I want a challenge when you get back!"

He laughed. "Same to you! I'm gonna get rusty if I got no one to play with!"

A few more minutes passed as the intelligent duo parted with finalized goodbyes. They went their separate ways to their respectable hidden chambers, bright grins plastered on their faces the entire duration.

--

The first evening of the Uzumaki's lengthy excursion was a sleepless one. While the old pervert was out cajoling in the red light district, the blonde lied on the rooftop of their inn while staring at the brilliant full moon, lost in his thoughts. The revelation of his female companion was happy news in his mind; enough so much that it provided a welcome distraction from the sad parting with Shia.

As he stared at the earth's dusty satellite he held the lunar orb between his fingers and wondered how he should approach his future affiliation with Hinata. Everything would probably be the same on the surface, of that he was fairly certain, but what about when night fell and their true selves were allowed passage within the shadows? Was it possible that she could be something more than an ally and a comrade with time? Despite being one of the greatest prodigies of his time, he had little to no experience with relationships.

When a conclusion formed in his mind, he clamped the moon in his fist with a brilliant smile. He had made his decision and he would stick by it to the bitter end.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the Hyuuga also peered at the glowering moon with similar thoughts. Her back pressed against the cold roof of the Hyuuga compound as her gaze settled on the cratered globe and she repetitiously traced the satellite with a finger. Now that she knew Curse's identity, what was next? Her greatest secret had been entrusted to him but she felt no regrets; her faith in him had been earned over the years. But as she considered her loyalty to her intelligent friend she found herself questioning the nature of her trust. Was it really what she thought it was? She certainly felt something akin to it but the more she pondered over it, the deeper it seemed to get. "_Could it be…?_"

She softly grasped the moon in the palm of her hand as her mind solidified her choice. Her lips grinned humbly as her next course of action regarding Curse became clear to her.

And so the night passed as the systematically captured companion of the night sank into the sky and gave way to its burning counterpart, signifying a change that, in time, would affect everything roaming the surface of the earth.

* * *

If the fight with Sasuke seemed watered down, consider this: how many moves did he have in his repertoire at this time in the manga? The answer: not a whole helluva lot. There's a reason he's pathetic here (mostly because I don't like him. Never did, either.)

That's really the only qualm that I'm willing to address in an author's note (there are more, but if I tell you, you'll agree with me). So yeah...

Hope you liked the extra length. Let it tide you over for a while. This next week's gonna be hectic, so I won't have as much time to work on the next chapter.

LOVE AND PEACE!!


	22. Reintroduction! The Struggle Continues!

Y'know, apparently some of you guys thought chapter 21 was the end. How in the world did you come to that conclusion? The real stuff's barely startin'!

I know the chapter length pales in comparison to the last, but... I think it works as a re-introduction. Enjoy.

* * *

Three years felt like three decades to Naruto; the passage of time blurred together in his mind due to his indiscrimination towards day and night. The blonde trained endlessly under Jiraiya and, when the old perv was away or otherwise preoccupied, perfected several techniques of his own. The Uzumaki travelled far and wide, gaining friends as well as making adversaries as both the lovable idiot and ruthless genius alike. Many moonless evenings came and went, taking with them local crime syndicates and several choice rogue shinobi into the bottomless abyss and leaving hushed rumors and whispered legends in their place.

Occasionally Curse would overhear a muted word or two regarding incidents similar to his own yet not of his doing. He always smirked at such hearsay muttered through the grapevine, his instincts knowing exactly who was responsible for those retold tales.

One time he was even confused for his counterpart when bringing down a decent sized mob family near a coastal metropolis to the south. His grin habitually grew wide in recollection of hearing cries of a 'Silent River' echoing through corrupt halls as he quietly slaughtered its members. Stories of his better half were surprisingly abundant in the lands to the relative south of the Fire Country; apparently she had been as busy as him, travelling permitting.

It was with these revelations in mind that excited him the most about returning to Konoha. Sure, his old friends awaited him and the recounting of his numerous excursions, but seeing Silence again was most definitely the highlight of it all.

The village gates came into view and his moronic projection cheered with true anticipation; he was finally home.

--

Hinata was on edge today. She had heard flitting rumors of her intelligent friend's return and she looked forward to seeing him again. Of course, at best the most she could do as a shy introvert would be to hide in her oversized jacket and stutter out a welcome, so her actual greeting would have to be under the moonlight.

She sat comfortably in her bedroom within the Hyuuga mansion, contemplating the scant myths she picked up on her various missions outside the village borders. At one point two years ago during an extended assignment in a large province southeast of the Fire country, her sharp ears picked up myths of a 'Cursed Wind' that blew in with the breeze and butchered deserving targets with brutal efficiency before melting into the night with nary a trace. Smirking, she knew that Curse must have gotten wind of her feared reputation in the criminal underworld as well. She always laughed when rumors of her own personal assignments came back to her with ridiculous exaggerations added.

But still, if any of the few tales she heard of the blonde carried a spark of truth, she was in for one hell of a reunion. "_He's gotten stronger for sure…_" she knew.

--

Kakashi waltzed home from his brief discussion with Jiraiya, newest adult novel in hand. Intrigued as he was by the book's unrevealed plotline, his mind still dwelled on his homecoming pupil.

He recalled how the toad master informed him on Akatsuki's possible movements, but that group was so unpredictable that worrying over them now would yield nothing beneficial. "_That aside, I wonder if I should continue to carry out the third Hokage's orders?_" his mind wandered to the aged assignment, "_Odd things still happen around here… especially that Ghost._"

The one-eyed jonin passed a cautious Mitarashi while lost in his own thoughts, paying no mind to the snake mistress's unusual alertness. Anko glanced at the oblivious ninja and continued down the busy street before her; she was on a personal mission.

Three years had passed in her search for Curse to no avail… sort of. While she never located the masked man himself, she stumbled across numerous clues that eventually lead nowhere save Konoha's now-infamous 'Ghost'.

Several months into her off-duty investigation, things started disappearing around the village. Small stuff, though; items like garments off clotheslines and food out of restaurants and kitchens. At first no one thought much of it, figuring a fledging prankster to be responsible for the thefts. But then a storehouse filled with ninja equipment reported a break-in with a handful of standard gear gone. This incident alarmed the shinobi population and Lady Tsunade launched a thorough search for the perpetrator while performing flawless damage control to prevent the civilian populace from finding out about the robbery and panicking at the notion of a threat.

The following evening of the edict harkened the first and only sighting of the individual now referred to as 'the Ghost'; a small individual donned in a pale mask. Unfortunately, only a split-second glimpse of the suspect was caught during the entire duration of the alert. Further reconnaissance revealed nothing more and the topic was pursued no further, despite continuous activity of the phantom theif. All that really went missing these days were small amounts of wholesale food items, but that never stopped Anko from persisting in the matter herself.

She did so because she knew the Ghost; it visited her every so often. It all began on a moonlit night a year after the investigation was called off…

Shaking her head to cast off those memories, she continued on her way to the Hokage tower in search of certain files regarding participants in the old ROOT project. She had no idea why the Ghost was interested in them and wanted to know why. Such knowledge could have dire consequences, and she desired to be an active player in her home's fate rather than an oblivious observer.

--

Kurenai enjoyed her date with Asuma; it was pleasant. They kept things on the down low, although her charges as well as his were infuriatingly clever at unraveling the ill-kept secret. The thought of her former pupils reminded her of a certain Hyuuga.

"_Hinata's been really excited lately,_" she recalled, "_Must be happy that Naruto's coming home._" A smile adorned her lips and she continued on her way until an old nagging feeling tugged at her mind. "_Although she's been spacing out more and more these days; sometimes she doesn't even respond to anyone until they yell in her ear. It's like she's lost in her own little world… when did she develop this habit?_"

As the Yuhi fretted over her subordinate, Danzo, Homura, and Koharu convened in secrecy regarding the return of a blonde loudmouth ninja. Normally, such an insignificant pawn wouldn't warrant their attention, but their… associates seemed unusually interested in the boy. The elder shinobi wanted to decipher the reason for their so-called comrades' intrigue so as to have a leg up on their mysterious partners.

"So Danzo," Koharu began, "What have your agents found?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," the old war hawk shook his head, "Only that our 'partners' have a vested interest in keeping the boy safe, although their motives evade me."

"That's it?" Homura inquired, mildly annoyed that several teams were expended for such little information, "Nothing more?"

Danzo sat in silence for a moment. "I do not wish to sacrifice more of my agents. My forces have already suffered enough losses these past few years…"

The aging trio said nothing as they recalled the disappearances of many of the ROOT affiliates. Roughly half of the nonexistent ninjas merely vanished with nary a trace, leaving behind only the tougher of the stock. The decrease in membership left the conspirators in a weakened standing, although they would never admit it under any circumstances.

"And what of the strongmen?" Koharu continued the conversation.

"There has been a rapid decline in their numbers since the Sound intruders," he referenced the bloody battlefield discovered within the hive of tunnels following the invasion of Konoha, "But they are still around, although the number of them is questionable."

Homura's brow furrowed. "When did the strongmen's numbers subside?"

"Approximately three years ago."

"And the Uzumaki boy departed Konoha when…?"

Danzo froze at the implication. Could this be possible? Could Naruto Uzumaki be involved with the strongmen or even be one himself?

"Perhaps we should watch the boy," the elder female shinobi suggested.

"Yes," he consented, "I agree…"

--

A cascading light shimmered with a fantastic glow, showering the dull room with star struck illumination. Amidst the impossible lights lied a scene of three elderly ninjas locked in debate; the war hawk and the Hokage's advisory council.

"It appears our… associates… feel the need to interfere with our duties," the sickly man in the dull azure suit adjusted his tie.

"No, no," the calm and collected voice of his suave superior corrected, "They are perfectly within the bounds of their contract. Naruto Uzumaki is not necessary for the survival of Konoha."

"But if our other… clients obtain him, then…"

"We have an agreement," he interrupted without a hint of rudeness in his voice, "Unless they renege on their payment, the boy is theirs. What they decide to do with him after the fact is not covered in their contract."

A brief silence passed as the pale businessman connected the dots. "I see," he finally replied, "Quite ruthless of you."

"Please," he chuckled, "We operate a professional business whose reputation is well known its literal interpretation of its agreements. If our clients wished for a specific outcome and can afford our services, then we will uphold the agreement. If not… well, I believe you have seen the outcome before."

The duo continued watching the live incorporeal feed and the thin man voiced another concern. "What about Sasuke Uchiha? He has not yet been… delivered, and he is no longer in our possession."

"Did you forget our meeting already?" He laughed, not meaning to demean his subordinate. "Orochimaru is a former client who broke his contract; we can retrieve Sasuke Uchiha anytime we wish. Besides, he is already actively searching for one of our clients within that organization. Ah," he exclaimed quietly as if remembering something, "Speaking of Orochimaru, one of his joint experiments with the good Doctor is within the possession of Hinata Hyuuga. Please assist the doctor in retrieving it…"

--

As night fell, Jiraiya stood atop one of the many spires within Konoha, peering over the village and enjoying the crisp evening wind. The past three years had been a real doozy with his blonde apprentice and he took this quiet moment to reflect on his… findings.

"_Well,_" he mused, "_He's no idiot. He learned everything I taught him fairly quickly and is near mastering all of it._" A quiet breeze brushed against his face and he took a deep pull of the cool air. "_In fact, he learned it all so fast that if he was so inclined, he could have had time for… other things…_"

Unbeknownst to the toad master, a rusted grated door squeaked open in the caverns far below the shinobi village's streets, spitting out a returning genius. Naruto looked forward to seeing Silence tonight; there were so many stories to exchange!

He flew through the dim chambers, nostalgia emerging in his mind as the musty air wafted through his nostrils and dim illumination streaked through the stone hallway. It took less than two minutes to arrive at his destination, the 'Hub'. The familiar vertical chamber appeared untouched in his absence, and the blonde was grateful to see it unchanged.

Curse waited for a few minutes, casually strolling across one of the many grandiose bridges that spanned the length of the upended chamber. Soon enough he no longer felt alone in the vast room and smiled upon recognizing the arriving presence. "_It's her!_" Hinata shared the suspended walkway with him as she calmly approached the male prodigy. "_Man, she looks so different!_" he mused with a bright smile, "_Then again, I probably do too._"

Silence wore a familiar pair of steel boots with corresponding metal shin guards, thoughnow they possessed scratches and overall wear and tear. She also had a similar configuration on her arms with the back of her film-covered hands shielded by small energized plates and grated steel half-cylinders that ran along the contours of her forearms. A form-fitting breastplate wrapped around her entire chest and upper back with her abdomen protected by a snugly wrapped coil of segmented metal. Her head was now not completely covered, as her hair flowed behind her in a perfect braid and her face was concealed by a mask of meticulously welded bulky steel plating and some kind of thick one-way glass that hid her pale eyes yet allowed her to see.

The teen peered a little harder and found that under the excessive armor the Hyuuga wore a somewhat loose dark leather outfit that would probably get his blood pumping if he ever saw her in it without all the metal. Shaking those musings from his mind, he noticed her weaponry; things that looked like they came from a science fiction novel rather than a lab. A familiar energy device was strapped to her hip, although it appeared a little larger than before. He barely noticed a sleeker and slimmer Yin and Yang bolted to the armor over her upper back, seeing as how it paled in comparison to the staff magnetically attached to the spiraling steel rope. His hidden azure eyes noted a gear centered at one end of the stave, signifying that the object was folded in half with large shafted blades tucked in at either tip. "_Amazing…_"

Silence was no less intrigued by her fellow genius's garments; he appeared like a maniacal version of Jiraiya. His crimson kabuki mask and ensuing flowing mane of false hair remained untouched along with his steel plated geta sandals and ringed fingers, but everything else had been swapped out. He wore a deep olive green jacket with the sleeves constricted by a series of golden seal-laden bracelets fitted over his arms and held in place with miniature chains while another sleeveless red felt windbreaker lied atop his dark emerald coat. His pants were a pattern of olive green and dull crimson as they hugged his lower legs, constricted by the belts that held his armored footwear in place.

Hinata's Byakugan snapped on and she got a good look under his clothing as well, blinking in surprise to find every internal surface of his clothing stitched and inked with seal marks. "_Went a little overboard with those, didn't he?_" she mused, a gentle smirk contorting her face, "_But he still looks cool…_"

"Silence," Naruto called happily, holding his arms out in a welcoming manner with a bright smile plastered on his face, "Good to see you again."

"You too," she returned in an equally jovial voice and smirk, though her joyous features were concealed, "Good to see you back."

"Glad to be back. How are things?"

"They're good," her hand moved back and grasped the bisected staff weapon, "You?"

He grinned wildly. "Couldn't be better." With that, he rushed forward while unsealing the first of many weapons from one of the bulky bracelets chained to his arm.

Hinata met him halfway with a solid clunk of her unopened shaft of a double-tipped spear, the weight of the weapon halting the newly released human sized shuriken hovering over the blonde's battle jewelry. With a flip of the wrist, the Hyuuga spun the staff around her open hand and the device flung open, its opposing blades snapping outwards as the shaft came to its full length- almost twice Silence's height.

Curse abandoned the oversized ninja star as he leapt away and flung his right arm at the thing, invoking a salvo of bladed yo-yos from his rings. The lethal playthings wrapped around the discarded weapon and, with a gust of chakra-enhanced wind, twisted to put a deadly spin on the stationary shuriken.

The blue-haired prodigy jabbed her lengthened spear into the center of the rapidly rotating mass and electricity blasted from the miniature generators hidden beneath the grated steel over her forearms, sending a massive shockwave down the yo-yos' wires.

Curse cut off the fatal toys' metal chords, avoiding the counterattack. He planted his armored feet into the stone ground and, straightening his back and bending his knees, shoved his open palms forward. A blast of wind ensued and erupted into flames when he blew a basic fire technique into the overbearing gust. The miniature tornado of conflagration spiraled towards the Hyuuga…

Only to be counteracted by an explosion of water that had, in an instant, formed a perfect sphere in midair as the moisture in the air got sucked inwards before blasting out. Lightning danced between the droplets and both geniuses were taken aback by their counterpart's usage of opposing elemental chakra.

"_Huh,_" Hinata mused, "_Mixing fire into wind to create a stronger reaction. And those weren't even high-level techniques._"

"_Water and Lightening?_" the blonde smirked, "_And she's using all those generator's to substitute for chakra. That's freakin' brilliant!_"

And so the dual geniuses continued their mounting skirmish, the strength of their many untried techniques increasing with every attack and counterattack. Eventually, Curse's expended weaponry stuck into the stone surfaces of the vertical cavern, soaked and sparking from Hinata's unique chakra manipulations while Silence's multiple generators buzzed angrily from overuse and her heavy armor bore a few new scorched scratches from Naruto's combined fire and wind techniques. It seemed their understanding of elemental chakra was rather advanced and rivaled the other. They could be at this all day…

The Konoha duo came to the same conclusion simultaneously: specialized weaponry. Their techniques naturally neutralized the other and their varied strengths balanced out in the long run.

"_She's gotten physically stronger,_" the blonde genius analyzed, "_Almost as good as me in close combat._" He smiled internally; Silence had definitely improved at hand-to-hand warfare- she was almost as good as him… almost. However, her overdeveloped devices bridged that gap with power to spare.

"_He's got more techniques and weapons than me,_" the blue-haired prodigy knew, "_His stamina is still as inhuman as ever, too._" Despite her friend's advantages however, her lips cracked a smile behind her steel and glass mask; technology and knowledge was on her side.

Naruto unsealed his favorite sword- his modified ninjato- and rushed forward in a blur of motion. His blade glowed brilliantly with thousands of indentations that, with proper configurations of chakra, could potentially form any seal imaginable.

Hinata intercepted the bright blade with her extended shaft of a spear, though her opponent was close enough to touch her without even fully extending an arm. She shoved her weapon into the struggling sword and shot her free hand forward as Curse did the same.

At once, both geniuses grasped the bottom of their adversary's mask and yanked up to reveal the other's face. Noting that the prodigy's face opposite one another was beaming, both combatants relaxed their grips on the supercharged weapons before swinging their arms around each other in a strong bear hug.

The blonde laughed loudly, "Man, I missed you!"

She giggled in response, "I missed you, too!"

Both were cackling and embracing each other like old drinking buddies that had fallen out of touch until recently. After a few moments of the friendly gesture, they pulled back with smiles undying.

"C'mon, follow me," the Hyuuga ordered jovially, "We've got a lot to catch up on!"

"Hang on, lemme pick up all this stuff," he referred to his scattered weaponry as he created a few Shadow clones to assist him. "Alright," he exclaimed after a few minutes, "Let's go!"

--

Naruto and Hinata sat comfortably on a worn couch in Silence's chamber. Over the years the girl had expanded the subterranean room to accompany for more space, and with good reason, too.

The Konoha duo stayed up until the wee hours of the morning merely talking about the previous three years and their many undercover activities. They laughed heartily discussing stories they overheard regarding their intelligent counterpart and shared tactics whenever an impromptu assignment caught the other's interest. Also, they delved somewhat into their new techniques and equipment, many of which incited a few congratulatory slaps on the shoulder. All in all, it was a simple evening of two friends staying up late while catching up.

"What time is it?" Curse wondered, "Is the sun up yet?"

"Uh, no," Silence responded while glancing at the clock, "About another forty minutes."

"Crap," he grunted as he stood, "I gotta get home. I've got a test with Kakashi and Sakura in a few hours."

"Yeah," she agreed hesitantly, "I need to get home before anyone notices I'm gone, too…"

As the dual prodigies got to their feet, the Uzumaki noticed something about his better half; a kind of feeling he had not considered outside of his first evening away from home three years ago. Despite his intelligence and ingenuity, his lack of relationships left him questioning this unusual sensation. Deciding to act on instinct, he placed a gentle hand on Hinata's arm and locked gazes with her.

"Hey," he said with a low voice, "It really is good to see you again."

She wondered about the physical contact but didn't argue; it was a warm and comforting touch. Kind of reminded her of the night she resolved her choice regarding the male genius.

"Thanks," she said with a quiet smile, "I'm happy you're home."

Curse's gut told him something, although he wasn't sure what. Somehow, he found himself inching towards the blue-haired girl while staring at her pale eyes. "_I never noticed how white they are,_" he mused, "_It's like looking at the moon…_"

Likewise, Silence was also lost in her close friend's distinct features to the point where she didn't even notice the altered atmosphere between them. "_He's… so handsome now…_"

Before he knew it, the wind user found himself eyeing the girl's lips. "_They look so soft. I wonder…_" He started pulling her closer as his head moved down a bit to match the blue-haired girl's height.

"_Is this what I think it is?_" the pale-eyed girl thought, immersed in the moment. Nothing could be more perfect…

Until a door slid open behind them, attracting their embarrassed and broken attention with a loud clang while ruining the moment. The blonde thought it was merely those two freakish reassembled Hyuugas- he saw them off and on all evening. His head swung back and forth as he did a double take, bewilderment littering his face when he saw who it really was.

The person advancing from the open doorway was a girl a few years his senior with blazing red hair and sleepy eyes to match. She stretched and yawned, her 'garments' barely withholding any secrets. Naruto's mouth fell open and his body tensed upon seeing the half-naked woman who didn't appear too alarmed by his presence.

"Mornin'," the female stranger yawned, scratching an itch under her barely existent shirt. "This Curse?"

"Damn it!" the pale-eyed girl swore, clearly upset with this person, "How many times have I told you to put on some clothes before walking out of your room?!"

"C'mon," she retorted lazily, her crimson eyes adjusting to the light, "It's just us girls most 'a the time. 'Sides," she added, aiming a casual finger at the blonde, "He travelled with Jiraiya, didn't he? He's probably hit up a few titty bars here and there…"

"You have no modesty…" the Hyuuga sighed before turning to a badly confused Uzumaki. "Naruto, this is Garaza Nashin."

"Yeah, uh…" he turned around to avoid getting an eyeful as the crimson-haired girl whipped off her flimsy excuse of a nightshirt to don her uniform, "Who is she?"

"Garaza Nashin of the Nashin," the uninhibited stranger replied, cutting Hinata off. "You fought and killed a relative of mine a while back."

The blonde's face contorted in confusion. "Who?"

"Guy named Giza…"

"Giza?!" he spun around, relieved that Garaza was finally wearing a proper shirt, "You're with the Sound?!"

"Nah," the Nashin waved him off, "Left before I get back. Most of the family did, too."

"But… but how?" he stumbled over his words, "Giza said his family was dead…"

"It's a long story," Hinata hushed her friend with a finger over his mouth, "I'll tell you later. Besides," another opening door sounded off in the room connecting to the catacombs, "You gotta get going."

"I guess," he replied absentmindedly, wondering who else just entered the extensive lab. He started for the heavy steel door with Silence possessing a devilish grin behind him.

"Silence," another female voice started while partially concealed behind a carried stack of boxes, "I got that ROOT stuff you wanted…"

"Hey, look who's here," the blue-haired prodigy said, playful smirk still adorning her lips.

The arriving girl set the containers on a table to the side and turned to view Naruto, freezing upon visual contact. She wore a pair of small steel-studded boots whose connecting belts wrapped up to her knees and were topped off by a pair of grey shorts with a sleeveless shirt to match. Each bare arm was lined with a single string of basic elemental tattoos and her dull leather belt looped around ten slips of wormlike metal. She moved her hand up and removed her aged ivory and green mask to reveal her face, her crudely groomed hair fluttering in the self-created breeze as she stared at the male genius before her.

The Uzumaki's brilliant azure eyes blinked wide; it was Shia.

"Curse!" the girl squealed as she tackled him in a flying leap and squeezed him for all he was worth in an excited embrace. "You're home!"

"S-Shia?!" the startled genius yelped, "What…?! When…?! How…?!"

She looked up at him with amicable auburn eyes and a bright smile. "Cat got your tongue?" she joked, nuzzling her chin on his jacket as she did so.

The blonde's brain shut down for a split second to process all this. "Wait, you don't stutter anymore? When'd that happen?"

"It finally went away a few months into her training," Hinata interjected, placing a hand on the disturbed girl's shoulder which prompted the overjoyed kid to release Curse and back up to lean against the Hyuuga.

"Training?"

"Yeah. I found her wandering around in the tunnels a few days after you left. She's a real handful, you devil you." She winked at him.

Shia snorted a chuckle down at this.

"Alright, but… wha…?" His mind couldn't think of anything more.

"Tell you what; Shia," the blue-haired genius addressed the girl between her folded arms with a pleasant tone, "Properly introduce yourself."

"Okay," she replied happily then faced her former captor with a sly yet genuine smile, "My name is Shia; the Ghost of Konoha…"

--

As Naruto made his way back to his private chamber, Shia joyously skipped in front of him while humming out a tune in accordance to her current rhythm, "Curse is home, Curse is home." The blonde prodigy was about as surprised as he could manage, but he still allowed a humble smile to slip by; he was grateful to see her again.

Eyeing her over, he noted that she aged gracefully, not that such a young girl could really do otherwise. "_She's a lot more modest than Sakura or Ino were at her age,_" he analyzed the muted color scheme of her clothing, "_And those elemental tattoos… I think she's gonna turn out to be a fine shinobi._"

Amongst his observations based on her appearance, a thought popped up in his mind that made an extra drop of blood run to his face. "_She's really cute, too. Couple more years and she'll be a real looker…_"

Feeling his gaze, the disturbed girl glanced back and peered at him with dull auburn eyes through her porcelain and emerald visage. "Something the matter, Curse?"

He shook his head to both answer her inquiry as well as clear his head. "No, nothing."

"If you say so."

A mere five minutes passed and the two reached the Uzumaki's hidden chamber unchallenged. Shia immediately unlocked the heavy steel door to her former prison and disappeared into the room while the blonde prodigy changed into those awful orange clothes he wore on his way down the protected ladder. A loud 'poof' echoed from the brown-haired girl's room and Naruto poked his head in to find the reason.

And did he ever. Apparently, his young admirer took after him in more ways than one- she had sealed a _ton_ of stuff into standard storage scrolls and, in a single motion, released everything from their dimensional containers. There were tin containers brimming with reworked clothing alongside small lockers stuffed with standard ninja weaponry. The blonde also noticed several towers of filed documents amidst a handful of scrolls as tall as the Ghost of Konoha.

"Holy crap," he muttered, "Where'd you get all this?"

"Over the years," she replied, "I did a lot of studying when I trained under Silence."

"Hinata trained you?" This intrigued him. "Then can you build machines and stuff?"

"No, no," she shook her head with a sheepish grin, "I never could figure out how all that works. I'm really good at the stuff you do!"

"Is that so?" He noted the time and realized the sun was about to rise and he hadn't had a wink of sleep. "Tell you what; I need some shuteye. How about we spend some time together tomorrow night?"

Shia's face brightened at the suggestion. "Yes!" she exclaimed, leaping at Curse and enveloping him in yet another snug embrace. "That'll be fun… so much fun…"

The undercover prodigy returned the gesture, a feeling of warmth tingling on the inside. He was honestly happy to be able to hold this sweet girl again.

"Curse?" she glanced up at his eyes from his chest.

"Yeah?"

"When… uh… when you let me go three years ago, did you…" she sighed deeply, her new cheery nature taking a sullen tone, "Did you really mean it when you said you loved me?"

His returning gaze betrayed his confusion.

"I know I was weak back then and I know you said a lot of things to comfort me, but… was that one true?"

Naruto smiled back and rubbed her head with his hand. "Of course," he said, "Every word of it."

"Please be honest," she pleaded, her voice displaying a chord of minor desperation, "I… I can take it now if it's not really true…"

"Shia," he pulled back but gently held onto her upper arms, "If I didn't mean it I wouldn't have said it in the first place. I really meant it."

As those words sunk in, beads of joy welled up in Shia's eyes before she blinked them away with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Curse."

"You're welcome," he patted her head, "Now I need to sleep. I'm tired as hell…"

The Uzumaki ascended the trap-laden passage back up into his apartment, leaving behind a hopeful, introspective girl who thought, "_Maybe, just maybe…_"

However, in the back of the fledging seal master's mind sat the second personality. Aiya also carried strains of hope in her separate mindset, although for another reason altogether. Over the years the alternate self had been twisted and warped into a different, almost unrecognizable entity due to being ignored by the formerly needy Shia. Years of neglect had altered her, and if she could smile, a wild grin would be plastered on her maniacal face.

"_So 'ole Curse is back, eh?_" she commented inwardly to no one, "_Looks like shit'll get interesting again…_"

* * *

Dun Dun Duuuuuun...

I checked my e-mail this morning at school (my internet went out yesterday afternoon. Good thing I got it back today!) and there was quite a number of new folks adding this story and/or my account to their alert list.

Quick question to you guys: how exactly did you find this story? I'm infinitely curious. Did that last chapter finally do it for you or was it something else?

LOVE AND PEACE!!


	23. And The Beat Goes On!

Woot! Got a crap-ton of reviews last chapter. Hope this is the beginning of a trend... heheh...

Now, gathering from the many reviews, the biggest issue on ya'lls minds is whether or not this is now a harem fic. Let me address this in one fell swoop.

No. I already reassured everyone about the final pairing. You see those two names at the top of this story? 'Naruto U' and 'Hinata H'? I said it once and I'll say it again: that's it. Period. Please don't make me say it one more time.

Having said that, I'm not a huge fan of clear-cut drop-dead obvious plotlines (can't ya tell?!), so there will be... drama... to put it one way. But please keep in mind that I'm not an author to change his mind halfway through- I'm stubborn as an ass and will stick to the preconcieved plot until the very end. Happy now? Good.

Now read and enjoy!

* * *

Naruto arrived at his rundown apartment, sweaty and tired from his long day. Operating off a mere two hours of sleep immediately followed by a day's worth of 'training' with Kakashi and Sakura had worn him out. "Aw man," he yawned, stomach growling in compliance, "I'll eat something then hit the hay… what the hell?!"

"Hi!" a cheery Shia greeted while seated cross-legged atop his bed.

He glared at her apprehensively. "How did you… get in here?"

"Trap door," she aimed a finger at the open panel in the corner of the room.

"How did you get past all those traps? There's enough in there to level the building."

She chuckled jovially. "Those aren't that hard to disable, Curse. You know that…"

"_No,_" he disagreed mentally, "_Some of those seals were custom made; no one except me has seen them…_" Shaking his head to banish his doubts, he changed the subject. "Why're you here?"

"Silly," she cooed, "Did you already forget?"

"_Oh yeah,_" he recalled, "_I said I'd spend time with her tonight… crap._" He attempted to argue his point. "Hey Shia, I'm kinda tired, so could you let me off the hook tonight?"

"Aw," she pouted. Truth be told, her surrogate brother's return was taking so long that she had already resigned herself to this fate. "_But it wouldn't hurt to have a little fun,_" she thought. "But you promised," she whined playfully.

"C'mon," he returned wearily, "I'm tired as hell. Maybe tomorrow night? I don't think I'm doing anything then."

"Fine," she continued her mock disappointment, "But only if I can stay up here tonight."

The blonde said nothing for a moment. "_She's… arguing with me? She's actually making demands? I can't believe it…_" He smirked evilly, wondering how far her resolve really went. "Really? Why?"

"Huh?" honest confusion surfaced on her features, "Because you broke your promise."

"I never promised anything." He was enjoying this.

"C'mon," she smiled, "Lemme sleep up here. Just this once."

The Uzumaki grinned back at the auburn-haired girl. "_She really has grown up,_" he mused, "_Good for her._" Deciding to break the jocular façade, he assented to her request. "Alright… but stay out of my bed. Thing's barely big enough for me."

Shia smiled brightly and giggled; she got to stay with Curse tonight. Hopping off her former captor's mattress, she waltzed over to the kitchen and produced a handful of cups filled with instant ramen. "I'll heat up some water for this," she announced from the adjacent room, "And bring it in when it's done."

"Okay," Naruto grunted as he planted himself on his old couch, noticing that it wasn't dusty. "_She must've cleaned this place up before I got back,_" he concluded, "_First she cleans up then makes food, even if it's instant ramen… damn, she's more like family than I thought. Although,_" he wondered, genuinely curious to his own inquiry, "_What kind of family member does these kinds of things?_"

Unbeknownst to the undercover genius, Shia was beaming with similar thoughts while waiting for the water to boil. "_This is so exciting!_" she exclaimed inwardly, "_I get to stay with Curse tonight! I wonder if he'll let me stay more often if I make him dinner all the time?_"

As joyous as she was though, an unpleasantly familiar tugging at the back of her mind reminded her of her separate personality. Grimacing, she tightened the reigns of her inner being; Aiya could not- would not- ruin this moment for her. Her smile faded in the solitude of the kitchen at the resurfacing memories of what her second self did to her after Curse left.

At this point the disturbed girl was able to effectively hold off the overbearing identity; her control grew with her confidence over the years. However, the secondary mindset didn't desire to be locked away permanently. Shia's heart pounded in anxiety upon remembrance of that night over a year ago when Aiya left her mark. Now, if the dominant side of the female's mind slipped in its hold over the opposing psyche, the overly aggressive identity would forcefully gain full control for a while…

Then the steam from the liquid's bubbling surface wafted in her face, breaking her from the morose trip down memory lane. She quickly handled the pot carefully and poured the searing fluid into the multiple cups. Minutes later, she and the object of her affections dined on cheap noodles and exchanged pleasant small talk.

As the brown-eyed girl snuggled up under the covers of her cot beside Naruto's bed, she drifted away with a content smile plastered on her face. "_I couldn't ask for more,_" she thought happily before nodding off, "_At least, not yet…_"

--

Hinata was mildly annoyed; her entire day had been consumed by a simple mission and her team had already been assigned another one. She would be gone for the next few days starting the next morning, so she figured she would wrap up some minor calculations in her enlarged lab before heading home.

A mute sound of metal sliding against metal echoed from an adjacent storeroom, catching her attention as she prepared to change into her public façade's clothes. Curious, she glanced into the chamber in question and her pale eyes went wide with shock.

One of the handfuls of corpse lockers had been released and the preserved body of an old adversary- Mosh-Mosh- lied across the freezing steel pane in the open air. Two figures stood over the crisp body; a sickly tall man in a worn blue suit alongside an apparently uninitiated middle-aged male in a faded and bloodied lab coat.

"Who are you?!" the Hyuuga shouted threateningly, routing chakra to her limbs which warmed and sparked with trails of electricity.

"Hm?" the uninspired doctor replied with a dull glance before aiming a sluggish finger at her. "You- thanks for takin' care of this one," he patted the cold cadaver before him, "Gotta take him back now."

"Once again," she stepped forward with alarming authority, "Who are you?!" Her activated Byakugan noticed Garaza abandoning her station and sprinting by Shiori and Ichirou on her way to assist the genius girl.

"Our identities are of no concern, Miss… Hyuuga," the pale man addressed with a snaky lisp in his voice, "We are merely here to reclaim our… property."

"Property?" Her activated bloodline glared daggers and suspicion into the intruders.

"Yeah," the surgeon-like stranger added while casually scratching his ear, "Gotta take him back to archives. Corporate stuff, ya know? It's all a real pain in the ass…"

"Silence!" the Nashin dashed into the room and instantly locked onto the potential adversaries. She lifted her arms and, sliding her chakra-sharpened fingers across her wrists, sliced her veins open. Trails of acidic blood spiraled from the self-inflicted wounds and took semisolid shape as they flew towards the enemies only to enter into a strange glowing light that appeared in its trajectory. The life giving fluid cut off as the indeterminate globe of cascading illumination quietly fluttered then imploded and Garaza swore as she withdrew her living weaponry. When the sudden light completely disappeared, the strangers were gone along with the mutilated corpse they stood over.

"What…" the redhead began with obvious shock in her voice, "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Hinata answered after a moment. She had recognized the businessman in the faded azure suit from the image captured on one of her cameras several years ago, but she was flabbergasted as to who- or what- he was. "I have no idea…"

"What'd they take?" Garaza regained some of her composure as she approached the empty oversized canister, healing her wounds with soothing energy.

"They took…" she remembered the insane fighter from years ago as she recalled his name, "Mosh-Mosh."

"Mosh-Mosh?" she appeared surprised. Even after all this time, there were things she didn't know about her younger comrade. "Huh… never thought I'd hear that name again. Any idea why?"

"No clue," the female genius replied, running the strangers' brief comments over in her mind with wide bloodline eyes. "Wait… they said something about collecting their 'property'."

"Property?"

"Yeah." As her intelligent mind wound down, she realized that she needed to leave. Besides, no amount of deliberation with such little evidence would solve anything. She turned to her elder subordinate and said, "I've got a mission outside the village tomorrow. I should be gone for a few days, so I won't be able to investigate this further."

"That's too bad," the blood user remarked.

"You're telling me. Anyway, go inform Naruto of what happened here. There should be video documentation from that camera," she pointed at a monitoring device in the corner of the well lit chamber, "He needs to know about this."

"Got it." She began to go for the database where said visual evidence was stored then glanced at her partner. "Y'know, if you and Curse came outta the closet you wouldn't have to deal with all this crap that interferes with your work."

"I know, I know," the pale-eyed teen responded wearily, "I just… don't want to. Not now."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged. She always wondered why her savior preferred to lurk in the shadows rather than gleam in the limelight, but to each their own. A few minutes into her new assignment of digging through the inner workings of the massive piece of electronic equipment, she figured some small talk wouldn't hurt. "How d'ya think Shia's doin?"

The Hyuuga sighed. "She'll be fine; she's with Naruto."

"Yeah, but what about Aiya? I still get chills remembering the last time that little spitfire paid us a visit…"

"I… don't really know. Since it's Naruto, Shia will try harder to keep Aiya in check…"

"Good point," she laughed loudly, "She's got one hell of a crush on 'im!"

"Yeah," she giggled. Hinata always thought the disturbed girl was adorable in her mannerisms.

"But what if Aiya still comes out?" Garaza finally located the correct recorder within the behemoth of a machine, "She's got some kinda grudge against Curse, don't she?"

"I… really don't know at this point," Silence returned in all honesty as she donned her shy persona's oversized jacket. The fact that she wasn't certain was a frightening notion in her mind. "Shia's changed a lot over the years, but so has Aiya. We just haven't seen her as much. Look on the bright side," she searched for the silver lining with a positive tone, "As long as Aiya doesn't surprise anyone, she shouldn't be too much of a problem."

The Nashin was in the process of fishing out the corresponding video cable as her partner donned the last of her clothing. "Good point. Hey," she changed the subject with a mildly cheery tone, "Speakin' of crushes, how're you and Curse… Silence?" She peered up from her task to find her intelligent ally high-tailing it out of the sizeable laboratory for the surface. The metal door slammed shut behind the Hyuuga and the blood user smirked as she shook her head and returned to her chore.

"Man, you and Shia are like two peas in a pod," she murmured playfully to no one, "Ya both like the same guy and are too shy to admit it…"

--

Danzo had never been as troubled as he was at the moment. To begin, a list of all the participants in his aging ROOT program had been lifted from his private chamber in the Hokage tower. The fact that these documents were stolen despite being well hidden even by his own standards was bothersome enough, but now whoever purloined those papers now possessed the names and corresponding information on all the members, previous and current, of his personal force.

Secondly, the suspects of the crime on his hands were those of a dubious nature- no one he actually knew. A nagging feeling in the back of his skull told him that somehow the theft was related to the events surrounding Naruto Uzumaki, although he couldn't even begin to fathom 'how'. Furthermore, the second individual on his mental roster of miscreants was the Ghost- an entity that appeared years ago a considerable time after the Uzumaki departed from the village, thus rendering the uncertain burglar a potential third party.

But on the bright side, his preparations for informing Orochimaru of Tsunade's ANBU forces were nearly complete. All he needed was a plant who could get close enough. "_The Uzumaki boy seems determined enough to locate the Uchiha boy,_" he concluded, knowing that finding Sasuke ensured the snake master's nearby proximity. "_And he needs a new squad mate. I have just the person…_"

As the old war hawk considered his shady preemptive measures, he felt uneasy regarding the blonde troublemaker. "_No, one subordinate is not enough. He requires far more attention._"

Little did the aging shinobi know that his partners in crime were pondering the same thing amongst other plans. Koharu and Homura had similar goals to that of their co-conspirator: the protection of Konoha. Even their method of operation bore resemblance to that of the disabled ninja- the best offence being the perfect defense. They believed Tsunade's easygoing reign would endanger the village and aimed to dispose of her authority by hook or crook.

They even had outside help in the form of their undisclosed associate who never contacted them outside of post or two bizarre underlings. However, they were equally bothered by these strangers as they were about the strongmen who lurked beneath the streets of their beloved city. Danzo might have been willing to harbor a certain amount of faith in the concealed leadership of this shadowy organization, but they had their doubts. After all, their mutual partner agreed to assist in their noble endeavor without revealing his or her own motives.

As they discussed the endless topic of how to deal with the mysterious people, Sten emerged from a shadow and calmly confronted the elders.

"What is it?" Koharu kicked things off.

"Information has surfaced regarding Orochimaru's location," the shadow user replied in his usual lifeless tone, "And Naruto Uzumaki appears eager to pursue him."

The aging shinobi exchanged glances and Homura continued, "And how do you propose manipulating this information for our goals?"

"You and Danzo wish to rule Konoha, correct?"

They gave the slightest of nods in reply.

"I see… undermining the current Hokage's authority would be ideal then."

"Do you have a plan?" Koharu spoke, preventing her impatient former teammate from loosing his cool at such an obvious fact.

"Disagree with the Hokage's wishes. She seems to favor the boy and will most likely allow him passage. If you were to confront her regarding her decision, it will only serve to anger her into making rash decisions which could present her as unfit for duty."

"What kind of plan is that?!" the aging man hissed, "We would do such a thing to begin with!"

"Danzo is taking a more proactive approach than you," the hooded man continued unabated, "He will assign one of his agents to Naruto Uzumaki's team and instruct said agent to hand over documents concerning the identities of the Hokage's ANBU forces. Such knowledge in the hands of a hostile will provide ample distraction as my organization takes care of the situation."

Koharu's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning?" she wondered aloud.

Sten merely peered at her with blank eyes before breaking the seconds-long silence. "We have our ways." With that, he backed into the shadow from whence he came and disappeared from the cozy chamber.

The aging advisors settled their gazes back to each other. The elderly man appeared annoyed, and with good reason. "I can't help but feel we are being left out of this arrangement."

"I agree," she nodded, "But our own resources are limited in comparison. Danzo has his ROOT organization, however dwindling it may be, and only a handful of the ANBU shinobi are wise enough to swear their loyalties to the village and not Tsunade."

A moment passed as the retired ninjas considered their options. "What do you think he meant by 'we have our ways'?"

"We…" unpleasant notions streamed through her mind, halting her speech for a fleeting instant, "We should rally the shinobi loyal to us; they may need to disappear for a while…"

--

The mock doctor in the blood-stained ivory coat tapped away at an arcane console in the hopes of opening the blast doors before him. He punched furiously at the mechanical keys as numbers stretched across the cracked display, botching his attempts enough times to irritate his normally bored demeanor while reminding him that code breaking was not his area of expertise. After a few more minutes of failed attempts, his efforts paid off and the huge rusted doors creaked open with an ear-rattling screech.

He took great pains to close the entrance behind him; he wasn't supposed to be here. Certain protocols had to be followed in order to visit this massive portion of the sunken compound, but the faux surgeon detested ceremonies that impeded scientific progress.

"_Eh, whatever,_" he concluded while advancing calmly down an unsterile whitewashed hallway and picking his ear, "_The boss wants me to produce good stuff, and good stuff's what he'll get._"

The seemingly uninitiated man passed by countless stainless steel doors as he wandered aimlessly in the evidently abandoned facility. His qualifications for even being allowed down here were barely adequate but his presence was unauthorized nonetheless. However, now that he was inside the decidedly chilly subterranean complex he was merely taking a stroll to check the place out; he had never actually been here before.

He stopped in front of a pair of double doors that caught his attention for whatever reason. Curiosity notwithstanding, he strode through the swiveling entranceway and into a massive cylindrical chamber that extended onwards for what seemed like miles. The place was freezing; he instantly huddled his arms together for warmth and could clearly see his breath in the stagnant air.

Cocking his head in restrained intrigue, he approached the nearest of an eternal row of human-sized tubes that lined the bottom half of the monstrous room. Shivering a bit as he wiped away some frost from a miniature display attached to the oddly shaped container, he noticed readings stream across the monitor as it popped to life at his presence. He could understand the basic DNA prints rolling by on the frozen screen, but any kind of written language other than numbers eluded him; he didn't recognize the characters.

"_Perhaps they're runes of some sort?_" he wondered, committing to memory the foreign symbols in the hopes that he could research them in the future and decipher their meanings. "_If it's got anything to do with genetics, this'll be fun as hell._"

He traced the marks over and over in his mind and, when he became familiar with the repeating pattern, produced a small notepad from his worn clothing. Fighting to force the ink in his pen to flow, he scratched the strange words into the paper.

'P-R-O-J-E-C-T G-E-N-E F-R-E-A-K P-R-I-V-A-T-E F-I-R-S-T C-L-A-S-S…'

--

Naruto spent the next day it as he saw fit; relaxing. Kakashi was supposedly wrapped up with paperwork for the recently reborn team seven, although he was probably distracted by his new adult novel to make good time. So, with nothing else to do, the blonde wandered around the village in search of something worth his while.

He had been walking a while when he started feeling annoyance at the individuals tailing him. "_They've been on my ass ever since I left my apartment,_" he mused, "_Irritating little bastards. Wonder who they are?_"

Determining that the day was too quiet for his liking, as well as wishing to ditch his supposedly discreet followers, he picked up a few groceries and headed home. Upon entry, he felt the intrusive entities hang around before dissipating but leaving one behind to trail him should he leave his home again. "_Thorough, aren't they?_"

The blonde put his foodstuffs away then, creating a clone so as not to extinguish his presence, descended the vertical passageway into his hidden chamber. He entered the cozy establishment and was instantly greeted by a young boisterous female.

"Curse!" Shia leapt at him and nearly yanked him off his footing with an airborne hug. "You're home early!"

"Yeah," he exclaimed with a smile, surprised by how glad he was to see her, "There's nothing to do today so I though we could… uh… hi." He hadn't noticed the second pair of eyes peering lazily at him.

"Yo," Garaza hailed while holding up a squat cup sloshing with a clear fluid, "What's up?"

"Um… not much… how did you get in here?"

The Nashin aimed at the auburn-haired girl while taking a sip of the apparently strong liquid.

"You brought her here?" the Uzumaki questioned the innocent girl, eyebrow raised in minor apprehension.

"No," she shook her head, "I just opened the door."

"Then how…?"

"I heard ya come here," the redhead interrupted, tapping her left ear, "My listening wires go all over the place in these tunnels. I can hear just about everything that goes on down here."

Curse's azure eyes went wide at her explanation. "That's… impressive."

She laughed. "That's about it for me, though. My fightin' skills blow!"

"Don't say that," Shia interjected, "You're really good at traps and stuff…"

"Eh, true."

"Hate to break things up here," Naruto cut the conversation short as he took a seat next to his adoptive sister and across from the blood user, "But why are you here exactly?"

Garaza smirked and mussed the disturbed girl's hair. "Just popped on by to see my buddy here." An idea popped into her tomboyish mind and she decided to have some fun. "…And you," she added in a soft tone that was wildly out of character for her.

"Huh?" The blonde was confused.

"I… always wanted to meet you…" she set aside the deep saucer and crawled forward, "The famous Curse…" She was practically in the teen's lap before the object of her amusement started moving back.

"Uh… I…" he stammered as he caught a whiff of her breath when she blew gently in his face. "_Geez, that's alcohol! Is she drunk?! This is bad… real bad…_" He scooted back from the advancing girl until his back hit the wall. Her eyes started fluttering shut and he face got closer and closer…

Then her puckered lips broke into a wide smile. "Gotchya!" she exclaimed before launching herself back into her original position while laughing her ass off. "Aw, man!" she slapped a knee, "The look on your face was priceless! That was so great…"

The blonde struggled to control his heightened breathing; he hadn't expected the crimson-eyed older girl to advance on him like that, even if it was in mere jest. "Don't do that again," he ordered in a tone that combined a command with a request.

"Man, tough crowd," she chuckled, glancing at the younger girl behind her. Her jovial grin melted away when she saw the horrified look on Shia's face. "_Aw crap. I forgot about her._" She ran her fingers through the mortified female's hair and said, "You okay?"

The disturbed girl blinked then nodded, hesitantly confirming her recovering state.

"Man, I'm sorry kiddo," the Nashin apologized sincerely and pulled her younger friend into a one-armed embrace from the side. "I forgot how ya feel… so sorry 'bout that."

"_What the hell's going on here?_" Naruto wondered, absolutely bewildered by the apologetic display of affection occurring before his brilliant eyes. "Hey," he stated, grabbing his visitor's attention, "What are you here for, really?"

"To show you this," Garaza instantly switched into work mode as she reached into her satchel and extracted some kind of portable monitor. She presented the darkened display to the blonde and flipped a switch, prompting the screen to buzz to life and begin playing the incident that transpired in Hinata's secure storeroom.

The Uzumaki dutifully studied the scene and intently listened to the exchanged dialogue gurgling through the scratchy speakers, nodding in detached acknowledgement when the recording finished.

"Silence ain't gonna be around for a few days, so she wanted me to stop by and show you that."

"I… see…" He was still wrapped up in the revelation of the strange intruders.

As the questions popped into his mind, the blonde redirected said inquiries towards the blood user to little avail. She strongly affirmed several times that she knew no more than he or the Hyuuga prodigy, and after a while the boy was forced to take it at face value. "_Could this have anything to do with those nosy bastards following me around?_" he wondered, "_Nah, couldn't be. They're only higher up ninjas._" He sneered inwardly at his presumption. "_Don't be stupid- I can't assume anything._"

"Could you excuse me for a second?" the blonde said as he stood and went for the vertical passageway leading into his apartment to ensure his annoying followers weren't involved with the bizarre strangers, "I've gotta go check something. Be back in a few minutes."

"We'll be here," Garaza waved as the undercover genius scaled the trap-laden ladder before turning towards her younger comrade. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Shia answered, her voice a tad too sullen for the Nashin's tastes. "I'm fine."

Garaza gazed at the girl then pulled her into an embrace. "I'm sorry about that; I forgot about how you feel about him."

The disturbed female blinked with mild bewilderment as she peered into the older teen's crimson eyes. "W-what?"

"Oh, c'mon," she ground her knuckles into her acquaintance's head with her trademark smirk, "We've been roomies for the last two years; I can read you like a book!"

Shia wondered why her former roommate was being so open about such a matter, but eventually she decided it was nice to have a friend that cared and smiled at that thought. "But what about Silence? She also…"

"Hey," the cheerful elder teen hushed her captive with a finger, "None 'a that. You two are my best pals, and I ain't gonna favor one over the other." Her smile grew ear to ear, evidence that she spoke nothing but the truth to the younger girl. "I'm rootin' for both of ya."

The auburn-eyed girl gazed at her comrade and smiled; it was good to have someone other than Curse who cared this much. "Thank you, Garaza."

"No sweat, kiddo." Familiar steps rang out from the hole connecting the cozy chamber to the world above and she gave Shia one last squeeze before releasing her. When Naruto came into view the Nashin grasped her flat cup of booze and cheered for no particular reason. "Showtime!"

--

Days later, the blonde prodigy was away on a mission- something about a kidnapped kazekage- and the genius girl wasn't due back from her assignment for at least another day. Garaza was busy monitoring the honeycomb of tunnels with her extensive wiring and Shiori and Ichirou were… well… Shiori and Ichirou.

In short, Shia was bored.

The brown-eyed girl mulled around Silence's lab wondering what to do. She had already gone through all the reading material regarding seals and the like, and things that the blue-haired prodigy excelled in didn't really interest her that much.

The Ghost glanced up at the clock and realized that she had wasted much of the day doing nothing- something she couldn't bear to fathom. "_If I'm gonna do nothing all day,_" she pouted, "_I wanna do it with Curse or Silence. Maybe even Garaza!_" She paced the room for what seemed the millionth time and eventually decided on a course of action.

She would go for a walk.

Of course for her a 'walk' normally translated into 'sneaking through the shadows trying not to get caught', but this time she wanted things to be different. "_It'll be fine,_" she mused as she donned a dull long sleeve jacket to conceal the tattoos on her arms, "_No one's ever seen me before…_"

And so she went on a casual stroll of the village. She tried not to draw too much attention to herself, but such a thing is rather difficult when the individual attempting to blend in keeps staring at everything in obvious wonder and stumbles over half a dozen visible objects while running into an equal number of passersby. "_Wow! I've never seen the village in the daytime!_"

As she happily waltzed along the busy streets not watching where she was going, she bumped into someone… again. This time, however, it wasn't an adult but rather someone around her size and weight.

"Sorry," Shia chimed as she stumbled backwards from the accidental run-in.

The female in question who appeared to be within the Ghost's age group turned and glared at her with familiar pale eyes. "Watch where you're going," the girl said in a cold tone that thoroughly pissed Shia off.

"Hey!" the aurburn-haired girl yelled, "I said I was sorry!"

"Fine," the apparent Hyuuga returned before muttering under her breath in the false belief that her inadvertent assailant couldn't hear her. "Filthy commoner…"

Shia's brown eyes twitched and she heard Aiya demanding vengeance, and this time she agreed with the secondary personality. "_Let's get her,_" the alternate self spat, "_Let's kick her ass!_"

"_We're not going that far,_" the dominant mindset returned calmly, "_But we gotta come up with one hell of a prank._"

"_A prank?! Come on, is that the best you can do?! Let's whoop the shit outta her!_"

"_If we do that then we'll never be able to come back to the surface like this ever again. It's gotta be something harmless that won't draw attention to us._"

A few minutes passed and the girl's face split into a sly grin as both psyches came to a compromise. She followed the bratty Hyuuga at a respectable distance so as not to alarm the target to her presence. "_Only a truly paranoid Hyuuga would use their bloodline in public,_" she concluded, "_And she's probably too stuck up to think there'd be consequences…_"

The impromptu yet casual chase continued until the marked female entered a less populous street and Shia sprung into action. Sprinting into an alleyway then dodging and weaving between shadows, the disturbed girl positioned herself ahead the objective after passing the Hyuuga brat via numerous shortcuts. When the unfortunate girl walked in front of Shia, the newborn prankster yanked her into the darkness and knocked her out cold in a single motion.

Utilizing the elemental seals tattooed on her arms, the auburn-haired girl converted some dirt and water into a special kind of sticky paste and applied it liberally to the unconscious victim. Upon completion, Shia then moved the Hyuuga into the light and melted into the shadows, all the while trying to stifle fits of laughter that sought freedom from her lungs.

Hanabi woke up after a few more seconds and blinked hard as consciousness flooded back into her brain. "_What happened?_" she rubbed her temple, paying no mind to the fact that she didn't feel her hair, "_Did someone knock me out?_" It was at this point that she began noticing amused stares shot her way followed by many a chuckle. "_What are they staring at?_" she wondered, rubbing the back of her head. The moment her hand touched something moist, she received a horrid realization and began moving her hands through her hair which now 'flowed' in another direction.

Her hair now defied gravity and reached skywards at all angles, and the wet sticky substance slopped between the fibers kept it that way.

* * *

Ah, sorry about the meaningless Shia versus Hanabi story. I wanted those two to interact at least once this entire fic and, seeing as how I kinda ran out of ideas, I figured this was as good a time as any.

Also, if the scene with the doctor seemed out of place- don't freak out! There's a _very_ good reason for it. Always is.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a busy weekend chock full of mind-numbing homework. Joy to the world.

LOVE AND BOOZE... I mean, PEACE!!


	24. Who Let The Fluff And Psycho Out!

Guh, took long enough. It's been a rough week, and it's gonna be another rough week next week as well. And don't even get me started on this weekend!

Anyways, before you enjoy this chapter, I have something that is truly important to tell you. I know you came here to read the fic, so I'll keep it short.

**On my author profile is a link to a website that is dedicated to raising awareness to the issue of Net Neutrality. Now I know I already sound like a paranoid nutjob, but for me of all people to be concerned about this says a lot. I've done my research and what I've found, frankly, scares the hell out of me. (I wouldn't be using bold print otherwise!!)  
**

**Basically, the big cable corporations are trying to privatize the internet. I'm not kidding, it's no joke, and it's not an embellishment. But it _is _a load of crap. **

**If you value being able to visit websites like this for free (or even at _all_), I urge you to go to my author page, go to the linked website buried in the block of bold text, read up on the problem, and contact your local congressman (there's an automated thingy to do that in the linked website. No worries- it's really easy).**

So without further ado, here's the next chapter.

* * *

Naruto arrived home approximately a week after his departure to the Sand village. His team, along with Gai and his compatriots as well as an elder from the foreign ninja city, had successfully rescued Gaara from the Akatsuki, literally pulling him from the clenched jaws of death.

During this mission the blonde noticed a few things that pointed to… issues that might surface in his near future. Somehow, Kakashi had come into possession of the next evolution of his grafted-on eye: the Mangekyo Sharingan. "_I've got no idea how he gained it,_" the undercover prodigy concluded, "_But if someone like Kakashi can do it, then that means Sasuke'll probably obtain it too. If only I knew how it worked…_"

As the Uzumaki considered the strength of this reinvigorated bloodline, such musings led him to take the Akatuski opponents' might into consideration. "_That bomb user guy carrying Gaara didn't last very long. I'm disappointed, but somehow I don't think he was particularly powerful._" His brilliant azure eyes narrowed as the logical portion of his brain reminded him of the dangers of assumption. "_Then again we never found a body. I don't care if it's that 'space-time distortion' or whatever he calls it,_" he had a basic idea of the new Sharingan's abilities, "_But I need to see things with my own eyes before believing them._"

That final notion reminded him of the selflessness he had witnessed from the previously crotchety Chiyo. "_Never thought such a life giving technique existed. No wonder it was declared forbidden._" Despite his true professionalism, he frowned to no one in particular, grateful that the old woman exchanged her receding life for a friend. Whether such an action redeemed her of her past transgressions or not, he didn't know. But he was thankful nonetheless; her sacrifice would assuredly pave the road to great things in the future.

After reporting the successful assignment to Tsunade, Naruto embarked on a casual stroll throughout his hometown. The sun was warm in the cloudless sky and the breezes cool in the summer air- this was a day to spend outdoors. "_You know,_" he wondered as he walked the streets, "_I should go get Shia or Hinata. It's too nice of a day to spend it alone…_"

"Yo," a bored voice spoke from behind him, eliciting a flinch from the undercover genius.

The demon container's head spun around with alert azure eyes to find an older teen with brilliant crimson hair staring back at him. "Garaza," he hissed, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Gettin' a drink," she replied with a lax tone, cocking the liquid container in herhand to confirm her alibi, "You?"

He eyed her suspiciously; curious as to how she could traverse the ninja village in broad daylight without any form of protection for her identity. "Taking a walk. Hold on, why are you out here again?" he repeated with confusion lacing his tone, not really buying such a lame excuse.

"I just told ya; gettin' a drink. You goin' deaf on me?"

His features scrunched up in childish apprehension. "Never mind," he sighed while shaking his head, "Just… never mind." He continued on his stroll, knowing that any outward familiarity with the foreign girl would garner suspicion amongst the natives.

"Oh yeah," the Nashin recalled something and walked briskly until she reached Curse's side, "Silence got back the day after you left. Seems like she picked up some kinda weird radio chatter. She wants ya to hear it."

The blonde's sunshine hair bounced as he nodded ever so slightly and he parted ways with the carefree blood user. His head hung between his shoulders and he muttered, "So much for a peaceful day…"

--

Hinata was busy puzzling over the strangers that had invaded her lab to no avail. "_Damn it,_" her brilliant mind exclaimed out of frustration, "_There's nothing on these guys. Nothing at all! No shinobi or civilian registration, no identities, no mention of them whatsoever. The closest thing to an identity was when I first saw that businessman talking with Danzo a couple years ago before my camera went dead…_" That thought struck her. "_Danzo, Danzo, Danzo… he's connected to them somehow. Now the only question is 'how'?_"

The cogs turning in her mind ground to a halt upon hearing a loud clang at the heavy door leading to the subterranean complex. She strode over to the entrance and, checking the monitor connected to the concealed camera, affirmed her visitor to be Naruto. With a small smirk she released the massive bolts that locked the hunk of steel in place and the barricade rolled to the side.

"Hey Naruto," the Hyuuga greeted with a widening smile, "What brings you by?"

"Not much," he replied as he stepped through the opening while removing his crimson visage, "Garaza said you wanted to see me?"

"Hm?" she blinked, "Oh, yeah! I got this weird transmission the day I got back from my mission. I figured you might know something."

The blonde nodded and, after his blue-haired counterpart resealed the vertical hatch, walked side by side his intelligent ally to a radio setup. He closely observed as the teen girl worked a few switches and knobs, smiling at the pleasantness of the situation. "_She's so cute in that lab coat,_" he thought, toying with the notion to put his arm around her as her attention was focused elsewhere. His appendage rose and staggered back and forth in midair with indecision before eventually lowering back down to his side. "_Nah, nah… this transmission could be important._"

This motion, however, was not lost on Hinata. Over the years her bloodline had developed to a point where she could 'see' movement and small changes in her environment without activating the Byakugan. She was surprised to find disappointment weigh upon her when the blonde decided against the intimate gesture. Her moroseness was short-lived though as the recording finally crackled through the aging speakers mounted above the dual geniuses.

"…Konoha," the message sputtered as the aural record played from when it was initiated, "I repeat, this is a message to… inhabitants beneath the… of Konoha. How… you guys doin'? This is High Life contacting Konoha…" The recording ended, seeing as how the transmission looped from there.

"High Life?!" Naruto shouted, a look of bemused shock apparent on his face, "So he _did_ remember what I told him!"

"Who?" the Hyuuga inquired with a cocked eyebrow, "Who's this 'High Life'? Someone you know?"

"Yeah," he nodded with a bright smile, "He's a friend of mine. I met him a little over a year ago while travelling with Jiraiya."

"Who is he?"

"He lives in the far north. Oh! He knew Takaimi and Tayuya before they came down to Orochimaru."

"Really?" Her interest was now peaked. "How did you meet him?"

"In a crack house."

She stared at him flatly. "What?" she added with a tone to match her appearance.

"Yeah, uh, he's a… pretty serious junkie; I've never seen him completely sober."

"Let me guess- 'High Life'?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "You got it!"

"Alright then," her interrogation continued, "If he's a drug addict then how did he zero in on this frequency?" She tapped her extensive radio setup to drive her point home. "Absolutely no one uses it except me. It's practically a secure line."

"He's a technological genius," he explained, "Give him any piece of machinery or electronic equipment and he'll figure it out real quick." He chuckled. "I think all those drugs actually help him out a little- he once told me he could 'see the airwaves'. I thought he was just a standard addict when he said this, but then he immediately tapped into a yakuza's radio network on the first try and flooded it with music." His brilliant eyes averted at the recollection and he chuckled. "That was one hell of a distraction…"

"So is he a genius like us?" Hinata asked innocently.

"Oh hell no," came a rapid response, "He can work machines and that's _it_." Naruto paused for a moment as he reconsidered his reply. "Well, he can kinda fight, but I think it's drug induced. Sober him up and I think a smart Academy student could fight him to a standstill…"

"Sounds like quite a character. So do you know why he tried to contact me?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Send a message back. Don't worry, he's harmless."

"Okay…" she eyed him apprehensively as she attuned her equipment to the ill used frequency and pressed the 'send' switch down with a satisfying click. "This is Konoha speaking," she decided not to voice her nickname, "Come in High Life. Do you read? Over." Static hissed over the line and the Hyuuga repeated her message with the Uzumaki leering over her in anticipation. "_Well, didn't really expect anything anyway. That guy's transmission was almost a week ago…_"

"Yo!" a jovial voice suddenly shouted through the speakers, "What's goin' on?!"

"Uh…" Silence had no response for that and opted out to watch the blonde lean in and hold down the appropriate switch.

"Hey, Nuren," he greeted with High Life's real name, "Finally got your message. What's up?"

"Curse! What's happenin' my man?! Haven't seen you in… uh… forever!"

"Yeah. What's up? You wouldn't be trying to reach me if you didn't have something to say."

"Of course!"

"Why does he have to yell?" Hinata whispered to her intelligent counterpart.

"He's probably too high to recognize his own voice. Just go with it; he's a really nice guy."

"I'm yellin' now because this crazy chick's chasin' me!" Nuren answered.

"How did he hear that?" Silence muttered in concern.

"You talked into the mike, right?! I can hear ya loud and clear- hey! Lemme go, crazy chick! Ow!" Sounds of scuffling and general brawling dominated the airwaves for a few seconds. "Alley oop!" the stoner's voice drawled, followed immediately by a loud crash.

"What's happening?!" Naruto yelled, "Who's chasing you?!"

"Some half-naked chick in a trench coat! I think I shook her off for a sec'- hey, thanks…"

"'Thanks'? Is someone else there?"

His answer came not in the form of radio chatter but rather the lab's entrance to the surface shuddering open. A man who had seen better days spilled into the room and Garaza strolled in after him, the thick hidden door closing behind them.

"What the hell?!" Silence shouted at the Nashin, "Who's he?!"

"Calm down, Hinata," Curse calmly restrained his companion with closed palms grasping her shoulders, "That's Nuren."

The ragged man glanced up with muddy green eyes that seemed to move independently and shot a grin at the familiar face. He stood and shouldered a boxy machine that appeared to be an amalgamation of multiple devices with differing purposes while brushing off his grimy multicolored clothes.

"Yo, Curse," he cocked a hand in a sort of half-wave.

--

"_Damn it!_" Anko swore under her breath, "_Where the fuck did he go?!_"

The frustrated Mitarashi had spent the last hour searching for the odd-looking kid that had shouted Curse's name. She slammed a fist into a brick wall, drawing blood in an effort to promote serenity through physical pain.

"Calm down Anko," she murmured to herself, "Calm down. That guy couldn't have disappeared. He's just well hidden for now…" The snake mistress stalked off, fuming that such a blatant lead on Curse had slipped through her fingers… and at the hands of a junkie no less!

--

The occupants of Hinata's home away from home sat in relative comfort as they conversed with the apparent druggie. It turned out that Nuren came across something unusual when scanning the many radio waves emitting from the powerful ninja village and travelled to the source of his curiosity without a second thought.

"Yeah, there's some kinda weird airwaves goin' down around here," High Life stated in a wavering passive tone.

"How so?" Naruto continued. He seemed to communicate best with the addict.

"Listen to this!" He cranked a knob on his vaguely rectangular device that was balanced on his shoulders with his arms flopped across the top. He then flipped a switch down and induced a headache-inducing screech right next to his ear, wincing a little but maintaining a weird smile. The switch automatically snapped back into place and the noise went with it.

"What was that?" the Hyuuga inquired, adjusting her jaw so she could pop her ears.

"No idea!" he exclaimed excitedly, "That's why I'm here."

"_What a bizarre person,_" she mused. "Okay, whatever. Do whatever you like but don't you _dare_ reveal our identities to anyone. Understand?"

"Gotcha," he chuckled, somehow finding something amusing.

"I mean it!" she moved threateningly towards the older teen.

"Hey, hey; no worries," he waved his hands with no sense of confrontation, "Curse already told me no one knows about you guys. It's cool. I ain't gonna rat you out…"

"_Interesting choice of words,_" she thought flatly.

"So…" the blonde spoke up, hoping to change the topic and lower the tension in the room, "Where're you staying?"

Hinata eyed her friend. "He's not staying with you?"

He shrugged. "I've got no more room; Shia takes up all the space."

"He could stay here," Garaza suggested between sips of her seemingly eternal beverage, "Shia doesn't live here anymore, so there's enough room for him."

"No way," the blue-haired genius retorted, "Just because Naruto trusts him doesn't mean I do. I won't…"

"I'll keep an eye on 'im," the elder girl offered, "If he gets outta line I'll kill 'im. 'Sides," she grinned, "Sounds like he knows what he's doin'. I'm sure he'll be useful."

Silence stewed over the compromise for a few awkward moments. "You'll have him in your sights at all times, right?"

"Yep," she nodded.

"You swear on your name?"

"I swear on my name."

The Hyuuga sighed hard then spoke with mild apprehension. "Alright, you've got a deal. Don't disappoint me." Hinata then stalked out of the room to cool her head.

A tense moment passed before the blonde released a breath he had been holding. "Phew, never seen her that mad before. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Positive," the Nashin replied with her trademark grin, glancing at Nuren who seemed so fascinated by the ceiling that his upturned head tuned out everything else.

Naruto found it hard to swallow that the blood user seemed so accepting of the stranger while his intelligent counterpart was understandably wary. He was about to voice his concern when the loud clanging of the door leading to the hive system rang out as the steel barricade opened then shut. Moments later, Shia entered the room and greeted everyone casually.

"Hello."

High Life peered up while blinking away his sudden confusion and leaned forward, carefully observing the recently arrived girl with ever-widening eyes. "Holy crap," he whispered, "It's a dog with two heads…"

The disturbed girl easily heard this and took immediate offense. "I am _not_ a dog!"

"Oh my God!" Nuren shouted in panic as he fell backwards and flipped over in a single motion before flattening himself against the far wall. "It talks!"

--

Sakura sat in her room contemplating her wavering thoughts. Ever since Naruto revealed to her that the nine-tailed fox resided within him, she felt some kind of infinite sorrow regarding her teammate. "_He's been so alone all this time,_" she knew, "_And I never did anything to help. I even treated him like garbage just like everybody else. What kind of person does that make me?_"

She shook her overly pink head to chase those notions away. "_No, no. That was then, this is now. I can't change the past but maybe… maybe I can change the future. Change who I am. Change…_" her eyes gazed down as she tried not to admit her next mental phrase to herself and failed, "_Change how I see him._"

Her downcast gaze shifted to the window and she stared at the late afternoon sun as it bid the day farewell. "Could it be?" she muttered, "My feelings have changed…?"

--

As the sun set on the shinobi village, the Uzumaki spent the waning daylight hours with the person he acknowledged as both an intellectual equal and a friend. The blonde immensely enjoyed being in Hinata's presence, although his bright mind couldn't comprehend the warm sensation he felt whenever he did so. Still, he enjoyed it nonetheless.

They sat atop the Hokage monument in their plain clothes while watching the earth's star dip into the horizon. This time they felt no need to conceal their identities- anyone was allowed atop the stone tributes to past and present head ninjas. The warmth exuded from the sinking orb melted into the air and prompted the hidden male genius to do something he wouldn't dare in public.

He draped his arm across the Hyuuga and grasped her opposing shoulder with his palm. He was a tad nervous at doing so, but something told him that it was appropriate. Surprisingly, the blue-haired girl returned the gesture by leaning into him and resting her head against his torso. At that moment, Curse's heart leapt into his throat.

The same organ within Silence was also beating like mad. She hadn't expected the object of her affections to act in such an intimate manner, but she accepted it with a small blush tinting her features alongside a humble smile. But while she nuzzled herself against the boy, a small part of her brain reminded her that she was not the only girl vying for the blonde's heart.

"_That's right,_" she thought, "_Shia likes him… but… so do I. I want him to… to choose me, but… if he chooses her, she'll also be good for him. I know it's selfish but… but I want the best for him. We all deserve a little happiness, right?_"

Unbeknownst to her, Naruto was also having disrupted thoughts, albeit of a differing variety. "_This is nice; she's such a nice girl. I've gotta tell her about the fox at some point, but… but what if she freaks and treats me like everyone else does?_" This train of thought might have been obvious to him, but the demon sealed within him was his singular point of emotional weakness. When it came to the evil force, his mind ventured into unfounded irrationality. "_I don't want to loose her, but I can't lie to her…_" He glanced down at her face to find the fading sunlight shining in her pupil-less irises, the natural illumination dancing in her pale eyes. His arm instinctively pulled her a fraction of an inch closer and he concluded, "_I'll tell her someday. It can wait for now._"

--

"Curse!" Shia called to the blonde within his apartment, already dressed and ready to embark on her nightly excursion. "Hurry up!" she cooed excitedly.

"Gimme a minute," Naruto whined as he donned the finishing touches of his alter ego's uniform. He had promised his adoptive sibling a 'night on the town' to alleviate her frustration towards Nuren's unyielding insistence that she was a two-headed dog. "_Heh, that was pretty funny…_"

"Are you ready?" The moment Curse mentioned 'going out', all her issues became moot. She was now bursting at the seams with anticipation.

"Shoes…" he wrapped the straps around his lower legs and secured them, anchoring his steel-plated geta sandals to his feet, "Alright, let's go!"

"Yay!" She leapt victoriously in the air then settled her faded emerald and ivory visage over her face as the object of her affections did the same. The masked duo propped their feet against the windowsill and simultaneously leapt through the open into the sleeping city.

The Uzumaki followed Shia as she bounced from rooftop to rooftop. He was merely tagging along on this nocturne outing; the brown-eyed girl bounded through the village in the moonlight hours on a regular basis. As they sailed through the crisp wind, the blonde genius eyed the girl beaming behind her mask and thought, "_She's so happy, I can tell. Looks like Hinata trained her well, too- she can really move…_" He carefully observed the Ghost as she planted her feet haphazardly on both horizontal and vertical surfaces alike before pushing off with a certain grace that was reminiscent of a certain Hyuuga. Curse bared his teeth in a wide smile. "_She looks really cute, too._"

Meanwhile, Shia was on cloud nine regarding her situation. "_Hehe!_" she celebrated inwardly, "_I'm on a date with Curse! This is so exciting!_" She couldn't help but dance around the blonde in wide arcs, her extreme bemusement leaking at the sieves. In her mind this standard outing was but another step towards getting closer to Curse- a dream so girly that she couldn't help but bask in the warm and fuzzy feeling beating in her chest. "_This feels like a dream,_" she mused happily, "_I get to be with Curse…_" A daring thought struck her and she stopped atop a roof within a clearing concealed by a variable junkyard of pipe work and air ducts. The blonde landed behind her and she turned to face him.

"_I just have to tell him,_" she concluded mentally, her heart pounding so hard that it felt it would burst from her chest, "_Just say it, Shia! It's only three little words…_"

"What's up?" Naruto wondered aloud, "Why'd we stop?"

"Um… uh…" Her knees shook unconsciously before her mind forced them still. "C-Curse…" she stuttered, a sure sign that something big was about to go down.

The Uzumaki merely cocked his head. "Yeah?" he asked, concern about the sudden nervousness pouring forth from the auburn-haired girl before him lining his tone. "_She looks worked up. Is there something wrong?_"

"Er…" she continued, "There's s-something I need t-to tell you…"

"_Wait a minute,_" he began to piece the puzzle together, "_This couldn't be…_"

Shia gulped to reaffirm her waning confidence. "Curse," she spoke calmly and softly with a hint of anxiety. The world around her suddenly felt distant while her head became light as a balloon. "_Just say it!_" she berated herself inwardly, taking no notice of the fact that her hands maneuvered their corresponding digits into the restored finger guards lining her belt.

But while the disturbed girl didn't seem to be aware of what was happening, Naruto's azure eyes were now locked onto her conflicting movements as his brow furrowed in cautious intrigue. "Shia," he began apprehensively, "What's wrong?"

That phrase snapped the girl back into reality and she tried to gasp, only to find she couldn't. "_What's going on?!_" her mind panicked as her now armored hand reached for her deceased brother's mask, "_Why can't I move?_" Her disobedient palm flipped her faded visage to the side and she would have stiffened in horror if she could, finally realizing what was occuring. "_No! No!!_"

Curse's eyes narrowed when the girl before him partially removed her mask and stared face to face with him. The blonde then understood why Shia was suddenly acting odd now that he had a clear view of facial features he hadn't yet encountered since his return to Konoha.

"Yo, Curse," the girl's sly grin parted as they spoke and her auburn eyes angled inwards to form an insidious yet beguiled gaze. "It's been a while."

"Same to you," he returned calmly while shifting his weight, "Aiya."

--

Jiraiya sat atop one of the numerous towers that night. He happened to be stopping by in the village this particular evening and he was busy indulging in his guilty pleasure- enjoying the night air from high buildings. "_Everyone knows I'm the greatest pervert alive,_" he mused, "_But absolutely no one must know about this… they'll think I'm some old fart!_" As the crisp breeze fluttered through his graying mane and weathered clothing, his eyes wandered over the city to take in the serenity therein. "_Peaceful tonight…_"

But then two objects moving at breakneck speed in the distance graced his vision. "_Unless you count that,_" he added without too much worry evident in his mind. Instead, he decided to enjoy the nocturnal entertainment and leaned back a bit to ensure a comfortable position.

The toad master looked on as the larger of the two masked individuals continuously pulled weapons of all varieties out of nowhere to attack the smaller opponent who merely bounded off walls and roofs as if made of rubber. Then the little silhouette would maneuver past the airborne weaponry and towards the bigger foe in seemingly impossible arcs that sort of reminded the aging shinobi of the footwork present in the traditional Hyuuga close combat style. After an eternity of half a minute, Jiraiya's eyes finally adjusted to the swift movements of the dueling combatants and he smirked upon noticing the one with the large man of false hair that appeared familiar.

"Huh," he chuckled, "It really does look a little like me…"

--

Naruto was having a tough time dealing with Aiya. It wasn't that he couldn't defeat her- far from it; he possessed at least half a dozen techniques that could eradicate the girl in one fell swoop, guaranteed. Rather, he only wanted to subdue her, but the fanatical split personality, having access to the sum total of Shia's knowledge, was fierce enough to be a worthy opponent with respect to the situation.

Aiya, of course, held nothing back. She knew Curse wouldn't inflict a deathblow on her and doubted he could even bring himself to permanently harm her, so she gave it her all… kind of. The alternate mindset decided on a whim to keep things quiet. After all, what good is a gratifying one-on-one battle if one side awakens an entire village that would immediately interfere?

Curse shot out his outstretched fingers, invoking his lethal yo-yos from their rings. The bladed playthings whizzed through the air and went wildly off course when the separate personality clapped her hands together, activated the elemental seals etched into her finger guards, and then punched a solid blast of wind against the oncoming threat.

The blonde caught the fist of air and promptly redirected it back towards Aiya who, in turn, flattened herself against a wall with her chakra-enhanced feet glued to the surface. Naruto swung his arm to recall his yo-yos while putting a spin on the weaponized toys, hoping to bind the female adversary within the wiring. He swore under his breath when the girl planted her hands against the wall then, the engravings within the stocky slips of metal over her digits glowing with divulging patterns, launched herself outwards with blocks of stone following her open palms. Curse's wires wrapped around the manipulated brick outcroppings and he severed their connection to his rings.

"Nice one," Aiya said smugly, a sly smile behind her mask betraying her joy. "Any more like that?"

"_She's not pissed off?_" the teen wondered as he dodged one of his yo-yos that was thrown back at him, "_Is she actively enjoying this fight? That's not the Aiya I remember…_"

"Let's go!" she announced cheerily as she somersaulted off a windowsill and, in the same motion, extracted some of the stone from the ledge via elemental seals. Before her feet touched another surface, her palms pressed together then flung outwards, tossing a newly-formed serrated disk that was once the debris she broke off the rocky mantle.

The blonde decided to end things quickly; the longer the battle went on, the higher the risk of discovery. He reached back, unsealed his heavily modified ninjato, and fell back into a defensive stance on the ledge of roof on which he was perched. With a flick of the wrist and a push of chakra, the extensively engraved blade glowed momentarily as it clashed with the impromptu buzz saw before shattering the oncoming gyre into a thousand pebbles. "Alright Aiya," he challenged, "Let's do it." His lips parted in a joyous grin, an action he hoped would antagonize the alter ego.

Smirking behind her mask, the separate personality leapt through the air in wide graceful arcs, touching off specific surfaces to increase her velocity as well as randomize her trajectory. She traveled so swiftly that, at one point, she began feeling lightheaded as dizziness washed over her. But she shook it off and continued forward in Curse's general direction with finger guards blazing with elemental seals in preparation for anything. The strategizing portion of Aiya's mind knew a frontal assault would be suicide; however her urge to come into physical contact with the blonde overwhelmed her intuition. "_Besides,_" she analyzed, "_He won't kill me._"

She landed mere feet away from her target and noticed the lambent sword thrusting towards her. Instincts kicked in and she continued the force built up from her rapid approach by leaping far over Curse, twisting in midair as she reached the apex of her ascent. As expected, the undercover genius followed her movements with the tip of his blade as he spun in place and weaved his arms over his head, awaiting her to halt before making another strike.

Aiya's feet touched down and she feigned a charged, invoking the blonde to thrust his weapon forward. The alternate mindset noted the subtle signs of the prodigy's dedication to the attack and responded by squatting deeply. Using her legs as leverage, she hurled herself past the misguided sword at the blonde with armored fingers, prepared to bury a sharpened string of wind into his diaphragm…

And the auburn-haired girl suddenly spun in place and felt an iron hold grasp around her body. "What the hell?!" she yelped in surprise, wondering how her opponent thwarted her.

The Uzumaki grimaced; he tried to avoid any usage of his advanced techniques, but Aiya forced his hand. He applied a viciously weakened version of his strongest move- the 'Nine Tornados'- to the girl, creating a split second whirlwind that forced her into a violent spin. The instant she was jolted from her attack he wrapped his arms around her and ground the seal-laden bracelets chained to his limbs together, prompting the multiple marks to interact by releasing a coiled cable of reinforced wires and properly subdue the girl.

To inhibit the captured adversary from utilizing her legs, Curse shoved her flat against the ground and held her in place with all his dead weight bearing down on her. His plan worked, but now Naruto was acutely aware that the girl's back was burning up. "What the hell is this?" he muttered to no one in particular.

Aiya swung her head at an awkward angle, flipping her ivory and emerald visage off her face before glancing at the teen lying on top of her. "Wouldn't you like to know?" she said with a certain smugness that seemed to have become part of her over the years.

Curiosity notwithstanding, the crimson-masked prodigy leaned up a bit and, bringing only one arm around, lifted the back of the girl's shirt up to find the reason behind the searing sensation. His azure eyes widened and his grip almost slipped when he found an oversized seal tattooed across her lower back that was actually smoking a little due to the intense heat. "My God…"

"Eh," the trapped girl's smile faded without dissipating, "Looks like ya got me. Guess I lost this round, eh?"

"What the hell is this?" he inquired harshly, "What does this seal do?"

"Keeps me around longer," she replied with a now trademarked sly grin that never left her lips. The massive tattoo began to fade and the blazing warmth went with it. Aiya stared into Curse's concerned mirrored eyes and, with a newborn smile, said, "Let's play again sometime, Curse. See ya…"

The moment the inked mark completely deactivated, the normal sparkle associated with Shia beamed in the girl's brown eyes. Naruto sighed with relief and unbound his looped wires, but something felt wrong. He glanced at the girl and found her convulsing violently. "Crap! Shia!" he grasped her from behind to still her shaking body, "Are you okay?!"

The brown-eyed girl responded by lurching her head back then vomiting big time. Curse panicked when she continued heaving and tossing up for nearly a full minute as he held onto her. She stopped and he said, "Are you okay?"

Her head swiveled back wearily and she smiled weakly. "Curse…" she whispered before her beige eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp with unconsciousness.

"Holy crap," he murmured under his breath as he pressed a palm to her forehead and noted her labored breathing. _She's running a fever; a bad one. I gotta get her home…_"

--

The faux doctor entered the ancient musty room deep beneath Konoha per the wishes of his employer. "You called?" he began with his usual bored tone.

"Doctor," the noble accent of the shadowed leader greeted with its own benevolent attitude, "I summoned you to my office to discuss some… indiscretions on your part with regards to certain protocols."

"Huh?" his finger paused as it rooted around in his ear, "Oh yeah. I went into that restricted compound. What about it?"

"Well," he chuckled, "I suppose I cannot accuse you of being dishonest. Would you object to informing me as to why you broke protocol?"

"To further my research," he flicked the findings from his aural cavity away.

"I see… and you violated certain agreements to do so because…?"

"I don't care much for politics, boss. You told me I can have unlimited resources and funding for my experiments as long as I provide you with unique troops. I figured there were a few things in those labs that might further my research."

He gazed at him for a silent moment. "Is that all?"

"Yep."

The shifty leader of the unknown organization nodded and paced back and forth before the length of his aged desk before halting and clapping his palms together. "Well, my good doctor! I am willing to overlook this incident due to your credentials as well as your loyalty to your duties. In fact, now that you have expressed interest, I am also willing to grant you unlimited access to the compound. How does that sound?"

He nodded with a barely interested grin. "Sounds great. When's my clearance activate?"

"Effective immediately."

"Gotchya. Uh, thanks, boss. Be seeing you around; I got deadlines to meet." With that, the bloodied surgeon waltzed to the exit and departed from the well-furnished chamber.

"You sure that was such a good idea?" Sten inquired from a severely darkened corner.

"Indeed. Despite frequent disregard for standard protocol, the doctor has continuously provided us with excellent results. His zest for science surpasses everyone I have ever employed in his position and I believe he will continue to produce quality work, provided he is issued adequate funding and materials."

"I see," the emotionless shadow manipulator went with it. He didn't care to argue that point.

"You are… curious about something?"

"Yes," Sten never understood how his leader could read his blank face like that. "Gaara of the Sand was rescued by Naruto Uzumaki."

"Of course. And what is your concern?"

"Does this not violate our agreement with the Akatsuki organization?"

The shady leader merely chuckled. "Certainly not; our contract with them specifically states our aid in procuring the essential elements required to activate their weapon. The carriers themselves are of no concern."

The hooded man gave the smallest of nods in understanding. "I see."

"Is there something else?"

"Yes. I was under the impression that our organization was in control of all superweapons. How is it that this group of criminals got a hold of theirs?"

The leader's eyes narrowed ever so slightly but his smile wavered not; he noted how his subordinate did not assume the Akatsuki built their weapon but rather acquired it. "_It must be because of his own weapon,_" he concluded, thinking of the life-sapping blade his underling wielded. "They stumbled upon it."

Sten cocked an eyebrow in a rare show of emotion. "Stumbled upon it?"

"Yes. They were rather fortunate, do you not agree?"

He nodded. Arguing with the mastermind of all things was out of the question. "I shall take my leave," he announced abruptly before departing from the room via the heavy shadows.

The head of the mysterious organization leaned against his desk and smirked at the fond memories dredged up by the fresh conversations. "_Ah,_" he reminisced about the Akatsuki's earth-shattering weapon, "_I still remember building that device. Those were the days…_"

* * *

Now before you go nuts on me for bringing in another OC, just know this-

I don't introduce useless _permanent_ elements. This applies to everything I write. Hell, even the (crappy) fluff scenes have a purpose. Everything... _everything_... has a purpose in my demented brain.

**And just to hammer home how seriously I believe in this, be sure to visit my author page and read the bold block of text and visit the hyperlinked site embedded within. It'll be worth your time, trust me. **


	25. Seals! Psychos! Shangri La?

Woot. Next chapter!

First off, I'd like to thank all of you who took the Net Neutrality thing seriously. Your voice and support will certainly make a difference. Those of you who ignored it and/or don't care... well, you already know my thoughts.

Been a hectic week. But 'Wall-E' comes out Friday and I get to see it for free! And I've got a ride which can only mean one thing...

Iiiiiiiiit's Drinkin' day!!

Now on with the goodness!

* * *

As the day broke, so did Shia's mysterious illness. Out of immense concern, Naruto had placed the ailing girl in her futon next to his mattress so he could keep an eye on her. Periodically, he awoke to change out the young patient's wet rag that rested atop her forehead and check her temperature. After several bouts of this, the Uzumaki was relieved to find that her fever was being alleviated as the sun approached the horizon. By the time the rays of the earth's star shined through the window, she had recovered for the most part. But now the blonde lied in his bed, pondering the things he had not known about his adoptive sibling until this particular moment.

First off, she liked him in a… special way; that much was obvious to him now. He eventually pieced together her erratic behavior from the previous evening and surmised that she meant to express her feelings to him before Aiya took control. Briefly, he wondered if those two events were connected, but his current situation broke him from that train of thought rather quickly.

Secondly, he discovered that she was a crude sleeper much like him; that is, to say, highly prone to tossing and turning during slumber and eventually awaking to find limbs akimbo and aimed in any given direction.

And lastly, the undercover genius now knew that the girl's accustomed sleeping garments were similar to Garaza's; in other words, barely existent. He had no idea when she changed into that flimsy cloth referred to as a shirt and pants that were no more than ragged boxers, but he figured she must have woken up after the last time he checked up on her and donned the revealing apparel.

Naruto was fairly certain that all these conclusions were true; how else could he explain the snoozing half-naked girl sprawled across him in his own bed? Mildly annoyed as well as embarrassed, he tried to ignore the awkwardness of the moment and poked Shia with exponentially increasing force until her lazy brown eyes creaked open.

"Huh?" the disturbed girl muttered before sitting up and yawning as she stretched her arms into the air, a motion that raised her criminally short shirt up too much for the blonde's comfort.

"What the hell are you doing?" the Uzumaki inquired flatly, averting his gaze to avoid getting an eyeful.

"Wha…?" she murmured as her eyelids blinked slumber away. Awareness flooded into her brain and she stiffened, suddenly alerted to the fact that she was in a highly compromising posture. "Kya!" she yelped as she dove off the mattress and wrapped herself up in her own sheets that lied on the floor.

"What were you doing?" the blonde asked with mild inquisition lining his tone as he raised himself into an upright position.

"Um… er…" she stammered, "I… was cold!" she exclaimed as if caught not paying attention in class. "These sheets weren't enough, so I…" she trailed off, too flustered to continue.

"You were above the sheets…" he replied blankly, obliterating her excuse.

"I… er… em…"

The teen sighed and rubbed his temple. "Forget it," he informed, "Just… forget it." He opened his azure eyes again and swung himself into a seated position over the side of his mattress, staring his younger charge down with slightly softer azure eyes. "Now, care to tell me what happened last night?"

"You mean…" she began apprehensively, "Aiya?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh boy," she heaved a small sigh then paused a moment to collect her thoughts. "A little while after I started studying seals, I started learning how to control myself. All the concentration for seal work really helped, you know?" She brightened in a vain attempt to lighten the mood before her face went sullen when it didn't work. "After a while, Aiya was only able to overpower me every once in a while; she can only do that when I'm…" she struggled for the adequate word, "Emotionally conflicted. About a year and a half ago, while Aiya was in control, she put this seal on me," she jerked a thumb to the large tattoo on her lower back, "Which allows her to take full control if I ever falter."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "How's that work?"

"If… if I loose the slightest bit of control, she'll have limited access to my chakra. But it doesn't matter how much chakra is used; once it's applied to the seal I can't stop it. When enough chakra's put into it, she takes full control until either the flow cuts off or my body runs out of it."

"I see," his head bobbed slightly, "Do you know how to negate the seal?"

She shook her head. "No. All I know is that it merges separate consciousnesses, but I don't understand how it functions." Her auburn eyes cast downwards. "I have no idea how Aiya knows how it works and I don't…"

The blonde sat in silence for a moment, taking it all in. "_Almost sounds like Aiya's becoming a different person entirely,_" he surmised, "_And merging consciousnesses? I'd hate to see what would happen if that seal got put on me…_" The idea of his mind becoming intertwined with the fox was too terrifying a notion to comprehend, so he cast it aside. Noting that the girl was still morose at her memories, he reached out and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "It'll be fine," he reassured with a smile, "I trust you."

Her watery auburn eyes shot up and stared at him, immediately followed by a bright smile. "Thank you, Curse…"

"No problem," he stood while keeping his gaze locked on her, realizing that his newly heightened point of view allowed him to see down the sheets wrapping around her and, to a lesser extent, her shirt. "Just… put some clothes on, will you?"

--

Tenzou was having an interesting day thus far. He had been summoned by Lady Tsunade and subsequently placed as the temporary commander of team seven with the express orders from the Hokage herself to keep an eye on Danzo's unofficial agent, a youth going by the name of 'Sai'.

"_Although I can't help but wonder,_" he mused as he returned home to change into his old jonin uniform, "_Is Lady Tsunade aware of the third Hokage's off-the-record mission regarding Naruto Uzumaki?_" As he donned his vest, his mind dredged up memories of the sagely master ninja assigning him to his former ANBU squad leader, Kakashi. "_I suppose it doesn't really matter; either way, I'm to keep an eye on him._"

He donned his former apparel and gazed at himself in the mirror, recollections of the many assignments performed while wearing this uniform resurfacing. "Well," he cracked his fingers, "I guess the name's Yamato from now on…"

--

Naruto rushed into his apartment to pack for his newest mission. He wasn't particularly thrilled at the notion of being sent out to locate a spy so as to gain information pertaining to Orochimaru and, by affiliation, Sasuke, but he had an image to maintain. Besides, if it turned out to be a dead end then he could continue his own personal business unimpeded.

He tossed all his standard equipment into his bag then descended into his private chamber, taking care to leave a clone in the room so as not to alert the individual tailing him to his sudden disappearance. The blonde rapidly touched down in the cramped yet comfortable lair and began sealing everything he deemed necessary into his normally invisible tattoos.

Eventually, Shia poked her head out of her room in curiosity. "Hi Curse!" she exclaimed, "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah," he replied hurriedly, "Got a mission looking for someone."

"Who?" She knew she probably didn't know, but her inquisitive nature couldn't help it.

"A spy working for Orochimaru." He paused for a moment, realizing he had forgotten that the auburn-haired girl used to serve the snake Sannin, albeit unknowingly. "Oh right! He's the guy…"

"…I used to work for," she finished the statement. "I know- Silence told me."

"Ah…" He had no response for that, so he continued sealing everything he might need for backup into his tattoos. "_Speaking of Hinata,_" he thought, "_I really wish I could see her before heading out. But she got a mission yesterday, didn't she? Yeah, she did. Oh well, can't win 'em all…_"

"Oh!" the brown-eyed girl proclaimed before disappearing into her room. She reemerged with a collection of razor-sharpmetal clustered together between her palms. "Check this out, Curse! I just finished the last one this morning!"

The Uzumaki sealed the final scroll into the ink work of his right upper arm and then squinted his azure eyes to scrutinize the slivers of steel. He plucked one from the gathering and turned it over, analyzing the incredibly smoothness of the metal as well as the basic elemental seals painstakingly engraved into the frame. All in all, it was a piece of art… art that was lethal, but art nonetheless. "This is really cool," he handed it back, "What is it?"

"They're my new weapons," she replied excitedly as she slipped the sharp worms of metal over her fingers. The segments of stamped matte-black shafts slid over her digits with ease, covering her digits with wedged tools of battle that, once properly donned, resembled slender claws. "They're a lot better than my old finger guards," she giggled, flexing her fingers to loosen the joints between the interconnected cylinders.

"Holy crap," he muttered, "That's… really cool. You're really smart!" he mussed her messy hair with a smile.

She laughed at the gesture, overjoyed at the praise. When the blonde stopped and rushed to the ladder leading out of the room, she asked, "Do you need any help on your mission?"

He glanced at her. "I don't think so. Even if we run into Orochimaru, I've got something up my sleeve." The teen moved to bolt up the vertical tunnel when he noticed a change in mood emanating from the girl. "Something wrong?"

"Can…" she paused, "Can I please go? I… want to know why Orochimaru used us."

His eyes met hers with understanding evident in his azure orbs. "You do know that there's a one in a million chance you'll find anything about that, right?"

"I know," she returned, a mite downcast, "But still…"

He gazed at her for a moment longer then peered upwards thoughtfully. "You know, I could use someone to keep an eye on that guy trailing me. It's really getting on my nerves."

Shia looked at him with wonder then instantly brightened at the implication. "Someone with good sneaking skills?" she returned, answering the call of duty with her own wit.

"Yeah, maybe someone who used to work in a recon force or something…" Naruto loved playing with her like this.

"Got it!" she proclaimed, saluting with her clawed right hand and almost slicing her forehead wide open. "Ow…"

"Can I count on ya?" Curse announced with a mischievous grin.

"Yes sir! I'll be right behind you!"

"Atta girl. I'm leaving the village in twenty minutes." With that final bit of information, he scaled the trap-laden ladder into his apartment then continued on his way towards his next mission. Shortly after departing from the massive gates, he resisted the urge to smile upon noticing the intensely subtle presence of the Ghost trailing his unwanted tail.

--

Hinata was somewhat annoyed; her current assignment was nothing more than a follow-up mission to the Sand village. Konoha's allies in the overheated city were crippled thanks to the treachery of the loyal underlings to the late Akatsuki puppeteer, Sasori, and the Hyuuga's team was being sent alongside another squad to assist the struggling village in some local missions in order to free up the higher level foreign ninjas for more important work. In the blue-haired girl's opinion, it was a waste of time.

"_I'd rather hang out with Naruto,_" she thought, cheeks tinting at the insinuation within her subconscious. "_It'd be a lot more fun than doing another village's chores… although I wonder what this 'Gaara' person's like? Naruto said he's really turned around from being a murderous psychopath…_"

"Watchya thinkin' about, Hinata?!" Kiba yelled from his forward position. His sense of smell had evolved past that of a ninja hound's in recent years, and he utilized this skill to playfully taunt the Hyuuga whenever she had heightened levels of bodily chemicals, specifically pheromones, much to the girl's aggravation.

"N-nothing," she stuttered back. "_Crap, I'm thinking of Naruto like that again, aren't I?_"

"Suuure," he continued. Akamaru barked twice and he nodded to his bestial companion with a grin and a chuckle. "Ha, right, right…"

"_God,_" the pale-eyed chunin glanced to the heavens and addressed any deity listening, "_What did I ever do to deserve this?_" She had never really gotten used to the Inuzuka's antics… or his persistent funk.

Another day of heavy traveling and the dual Leaf teams arrived in the sand swept village. Normally, it took three days of travel to traverse the distance between the respective cities, but the person in charge of this mock expedition, a jonin on the opposing Konoha team by the name of Hideki, had insisted that they arrive as soon as physically possible so they could finish their requested length of duty sooner. As a result, both squads waltzed through the front gates of the Sand village with taxed breathing… for the most part.

Kurenai wasn't fully convinced that Hinata was as tired as she portrayed. "_She's not that sweaty from a workout- more like the hot weather. Besides that, her breathing isn't naturally tired; it's like she's taking deep breaths to appear exhausted._" She pondered over her female charge until a girl by the name of Temari approached the two squads to welcome them. "_Hinata Hyuuga… why are you such a mystery?_"

--

As the days went by, the Hyuuga performed her menial tasks with mind-numbing automation. Thankfully, the foreign allies didn't insult her skills with D-rank assignments; rather, they offered the Leaf shinobi work unfit for novices yet still within the boundaries of the surprisingly extensive village. Since all the small assignments were none-risk, each Konoha specialist was given a separate mission to speed the process along.

Today, Hinata was on guard duty on the outer wall alongside the elder sister of the Kazekage, Temari. The Sand ninja was pleasant enough to talk to and she seemed to hold Naruto with high esteem, mentioning on more than one occasion how they 'owed him a great deal'.

"S-so what has he done for you?" the blue-haired girl asked. She was curious to hear how the leadership of a separate village regarded the blonde.

"He's really helped my brother out," the blonde kunoichi replied with a faraway and grateful look in her eyes, "Gaara would have died so many times over if it weren't for him."

"H-how so?"

"He's never told you?" She appeared genuinely surprised.

Hinata shook her head.

"Really? I thought he'd have bragged about it to everyone about now." The wind mistress took a deep breath then launched into a heartfelt explanation on how the Uzumaki dragged the redheaded boy from the depths of despair and hatred and, through his own selfless actions, inspired Gaara to renew his faith in humanity. Even after such instilled resolution, Naruto continued to save the older girl's youngest sibling by rescuing him from the Akatsuki and, with the help of Chiyo, bringing the teen back from the jaws of death itself.

"_Wow,_" Silence mused as she heard all this, "_These people really do think highly of him. I wonder what things will be like when Naruto becomes Hokage…?_" Her train of thinking ended when she spotted a shimmering on the horizon. She squinted, her Byakugan snapping on.

"Something out there?" Temari suddenly became alert, lightly grasping her oversized fan.

"No," she shook her head before deactivating her blood limit, "Just a strong mirage. Anyway, you were saying?"

But as the blonde woman continued, the blue-haired prodigy's mind filled with thoughts of something she had noticed now that she had finally used her all-seeing white eyes. "_This village also has a tunnel system,_" she concealed her abrupt excitement, "_And it's uninhabited! I think this trip just got a lot more interesting…_"

--

Hissori couldn't believe his eyes; the demon referred to as Naruto Uzumaki was on a rampage before him. The man had been trained all his life to disregard his emotions, but in this instance he felt twinges of fear tugging at his soul.

Almost a week had passed since the masked specialist began trailing the targeted blonde through the excessively green landscape. He possessed standing orders from Danzo to monitor the boy no matter the circumstances and, should the demon decidedly pose a threat to the village, eliminate him. The ROOT agent thought it strange that his master would issue orders in written form, but he accepted it nonetheless.

The ninja going by the codename of Hissori was a secret defender of Konoha whose area of expertise lied in stealth. It was rumored within the ROOT organization's compound that his skills were second to Danzo himself, so he was perfect for this assignment, seeing as how he was in dangerously close proximity to quite a number of strong combatants.

But during the past week he had a feeling that he wasn't alone. Every so often he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but no matter how quickly he glanced over there was never anything there. "_Almost like a ghost,_" he observed. Superstition dominated no part of his mind, but a constantly unseen individual in his presence was a little disconcerting.

However, any notions of someone tailing him were banished from his thoughts at the moment; he was busy rediscovering emotions once believed lost to notice anything but the sight before him. Naruto Uzumaki had finally revealed his true colors and was busy launching a full assault on Orochimaru with the inherent power of the nine-tailed fox. "_Looks like he's finally lost it,_" he concluded mentally, believing that the time to make this threat to Konoha disappear had arrived.

Unbeknownst to the stealth specialist, Shia was also enamored by the spectacle, but she didn't understand the true context of what was going down. "_He looks so cool!_" she squealed inwardly, "_He's so strong…_" She ignored Aiya tugging at the back of her mind in a frantic manner, the alter ego's silent voice failing to portray its sudden panic. The second personality had always been good at determining danger at face value- it was purely a fight-or-flight instinct though; not necessarily always the best course of action.

After a few minutes of observing the object of her affections engaged in monstrous battle, the Ghost's hidden brown eyes slid in her skull to the stranger tailing the blonde. "_I don't think Curse would be happy if I took him out now,_" she mused, "_Silence told me to always find out as much about the enemy before eliminating them, and I don't know anything about this guy… not yet, anyway._" She shrugged the situation regarding the ROOT agent off for the moment in favor of enjoying Naruto's fantastic fight.

--

As night fell upon the Sand village, Hinata snuck out of her designated lodgings to investigate the unknown tunnel system beneath the foreign city. For the briefest of moments she wondered why the catacombs were abandoned, but she supposed it was the same for Konoha: simple unknown factors. Utilizing her Byakugan, she sailed through the night in her alter ego's metallic and leather uniform in search of an opening, eventually locating a patch of ground where the subterranean corridor rose nearest the surface.

Conveniently enough, it was wedged between the buildings against the outer wall, providing bountiful shadows to conceal her movements. The moonlight ignored the blue-haired girl as she put her hands together and, with a blinding flick of the wrists, summoned the moisture from the air around her. The mild aquatic technique then bored into the earth and a sufficient opening was created in the span of a few minutes. She crawled down the cramped hole and landed with a muffled puff against the cavern floor, immediately following through with a quick scan with her bloodline.

"_No one around,_" she concluded, "_That's a relief._" Her armored legs began moving as she decided on a direction and stuck with it. As time passed and her activated blood limit directed her, she began taking notice of the hive system's state of decay. "_Everything looks so old. I've never seen layers of dust so thick in my entire life._" It was true; particles of disintegrated rock and sand formed a veritable carpet beneath her feet, softening her footsteps as she strolled by. After a while, she found a wider shaft hidden behind an armored alcove that led straight down past the limits of her amplified vision. "A door?" she muttered as she ran outstretched fingers over the foot-thick blast doors, "Down here?"

Wondering how to approach this barricade, she reached back and detached her column of a spear. With a violent jerk, she unraveled the lengthy folding weapon then jammed the tip of the blunted sharp edge as far as she could into the crack of the rusted entry. Her built-in generators spun and hissed with intoxicating heat as they produced a large buildup of electric chakra before she transferred the energy into her futuristic spear, prompting the shafted weapon to magnetically repel the huge doors. The overly oxidized barricade shuddered and rattled as it creaked open a few inches at the sudden opposing force, and it took Silence upwards of an hour to finally open the damn things by repeating the process countless times.

Once she breached the heavy barricade, she found the vertical tunnel descending far past her modified sight and whistled at the drop. "Pretty far…" She glanced up to find an aging system of pulleys and cables and figured there must have been an elevator, however, gauging from the rust embalming every metal surface, her mind concluded that such a lift would have been out of commission long ago. "_Wait, who am I kidding? I can just walk down the walls using chakra._"

And so she did. After a solid two hours of a brisk vertical pace, the bottom of the shaft finally came into view. "Good lord," she whispered, "How deep am I?" As she approached the exit at the bottom, she noted that there was indeed an elevator, and it now lay in rusted pieces over the equipment that once operated it. She dropped down into the short intersecting hallway only to encounter another pair of blast doors. Thankfully, they weren't quite as thick as the ones above and their gears were apparently busted; a mere ten minutes and they were pried open.

The Hyuuga stepped into the pitch black room and, with the aid of her Byakugan, continued onward, noting that the walls had changed from dull chipped stone to cracked and shattered tiles and caulk that had turned into piles of fine dust at certain intervals. "How old is this place?" she said to no one, "This doesn't make any sense." Pushing her confusion aside, she began noticing metal doors that had rusted away off their hinges leading to intersecting chambers in various states of disrepair, ranging from merely being littered with bizarre equipment whose uses would remain unknown to roofs that had collapsed entirely and blocked any hope of expedition. She waltzed down the hall in wonder until she came upon the end of the line- another set of blast doors.

"More?" she whined, placing her huge spear against the crack between the doors and sending a bolt of electric power down it. This time though, the instant the oxidized metal sparked with the generator-induced energy the barricade creaked open of its own accord, leaving the blue-haired girl a tad apprehensive. Hinata entered the room cautiously, jumping a little when a handful of unbroken lights sputtered on and cast the chamber into a soft blue illumination. Once Silence got a good look at the chamber, she instinctively held her breath at the sight before her.

She stood at the entrance to a large circular room lined with backlit plastic readouts of various human bodies, showing off organs intertwined within chakra coils that appeared distorted, though whether by the aging quality of the scan or otherwise, the female prodigy couldn't tell. Steel cabinets and desks sat next to these numerous readouts, metal oxidized so badly that there was practically nothing left of them. Books, files, and any other kind of paper documents that had not turned to dust on the shelves fell apart in the girl's gentle hands, not that she could read the written language that hadn't already faded from view.

But what caught her eye the most was the device in the center of the room. The machine lied suspended over a pit, its supports mostly intact save for erratic rust. Hinata ran her fingers over the metal, surprised that it felt like a merging of metal and plastic and the slightest push would imbed her fingerprint into the smooth surface. Her eyes gazed at the relative orb that was most certainly the focus of the chamber, marveling at the uncountable number of studs and molten wiring adorning the exterior.

An eternity of minutes passed before she could break away from the sight and notice a small cracked display resting against the surrounding railing. Curious, she tapped a button at the corner and the screen snapped to life, readings of all kinds streaming across the broken monitor. She didn't comprehend the runes assumed to be a long-dead language, but she did understand the data regarding the physical body. After a while she pressed a finger to something that looked like a digitized button and a series of numbers appeared. Figuring it to be some kind of code, she tapped the runes at random and, when nothing happened, pushed harder. Unfortunately, the screen was cracked beyond repair and the monitor eventually shattered in a hail of sparks. Wiring erupted from the gashed silicon and smoke began pouring from the failing monitor, which now pulsed with obviously malfunctioning numbers.

Then the suspended device began to creak. The Hyuuga instantly went on her guard with every available weapon to prepare for the strike. She awaited some kind of onslaught, but nothing transpired other than the rough sphere's hatches cracking open. Once it had opened, Silence peered into the bright space within and, upon activating her Byakugan, gasped at what she found.

It was a fist-sized crystal that glowed with a soft azure illumination similar to the stuttering lights in the disused chamber. But Hinata's bloodline saw past the divine beauty of the flawlessly shaved shard. "_It's emanating chakra!_" she exclaimed inwardly, "_This thing is producing a huge amount of chakra all on its own! I can't believe this! This is freaking huge!!_"

She reached in and grasped the crystal from its stand, her film-covered palms feeling the gentle warmth of the miraculous shard. Her gaze fixed upon the object and she found that there was more to it than met the eye; it was small, but her watchful Byakugan could just make it out. "This is a machine!!" she exclaimed, seeing molecule-sized gears and wiring forming perfect patterns within the smooth glassy artifact. "I-I can't believe this!! I've gotta show this to Naruto!!"

--

Days later, said blonde genius's only sense of relief came from the fact that the individual tailing him had finally vanished. He had unleashed the fox's power against Orochimaru and lost, but he restrained himself as much as he could. Contrary to Jiraiya's beliefs, he didn't actually loose coherence while utilizing too much of the demon's energy, but he certainly did loose his mind. While in such a state, he more or less didn't care who he attacked; all that mattered in that demented mindset was that he make an attempt on someone's life. Naturally, he always possessed this sense of lingering guilt every time he went that far. He didn't like having to rely on the fox, but truth be told, he couldn't really survive without it at this point, a fact the teen would never admit to anyone, himself included.

After his epic showdown with Orochimaru, he discovered that Sai had a hidden agenda the whole time and was forced to pursue him. "_What the hell,_" he rationalized to stifle his annoyance, "_Maybe I'll find out something interesting._"

And he did. While searching for the emotionless boy, Naruto discovered that the additional teammate was an underling of Danzo and had express orders to hand over information regarding the identities of the ANBU forces of Konoha. Upon further investigation, it turned out that Sai was actually a double agent whose true mission was to assassinate Sasuke, an action that the Uzumaki would gladly allow under different circumstances.

But it was not meant to be. Instead, Curse donned his idiotic mask and convinced his errant squad member to embrace his humanity once again before renewing the search for the lone Uchiha. The blonde prodigy figured that maybe, just maybe, he could encounter the loathsome traitor in such a manner that killing him would be the only way out. He would have to endure the subsequent fit of tears from Sakura, but that was a price he was more than willing to pay.

Now all the drama he dredged through led to this singular moment; team seven standing in a manmade crater staring skyward at the older face of the misguided Sharingan user.

"Sasuke…" the Haruno mumbled with beads of tears welling in her eyes.

"Ah," the arrogant teen replied impassively, "It's Sakura." His dark pupils then shifted over to the arriving blonde. "And Naruto…" The very sight of the only person to ever soundly defeat him sparked the fires of contempt deep within his heart. His sharp instincts noticed the pink-haired girl about to say something, but he moved before more words could be said.

The next instant brought him in front of Curse, his sword drawn and prepared to sever the greater genius's spine. The Uchiha swung the blade inwards only to have his wrist caught by… a foot?

He glanced back with inherent surprise, wondering if Naruto had set yet another trap for him. A blur filled his vision but not before his bloodline activated and his head ducked to avoid a hand of steel claws.

"_Oh crap!_" the blonde genius thought, "_Shia!_"

Needless to say, all parties present save Curse were shocked at the sudden arrival of the masked Ghost. Sasuke attempted to thrust a palmed chidori into the girl from his low stance and hit nothing but air. The disturbed girl somersaulted over the vengeful boy, planting her clawed hands on his head midway to gain leverage. In turn, Orochimaru's apprentice released his chidori discharge, sending bolts of chakra-induced lightning into the airborne female.

But the seals inscribed upon Shia's armored claws glowed in a preordained pattern and, as the preteen put distance between her and the Uchiha, the Ghost literally pulled the attack with her in open hands. Sasuke frowned as his attack unintentionally extended towards the adversary and cut off the chakra flow, only to have his eyes widen in shock when he found the girl bobbing her arms back in forth, remaining electricity intensifying rather than dissipating.

The disturbed girl then clapped her palms together and lurched forward, shooting the attack back at the treacherous ninja. Sasuke flattened himself against the ground as the redirected technique passed over him harmlessly and stood only to clash with the knives in Naruto's fists.

"You again…" the Uchiha frowned as his Sharingan spun and he forced his way into the Uzumaki's mind. He was instantly greeted by the blonde standing before a bubbling cauldron of evil that took the shape of the nine-tailed fox. He placed a palm on the mass of evil chakra to hold it back and calmly stated, "So this is the source of your power. Figures," he chuckled, "You'd need a demon to defeat me."

"What?!" Curse shouted in redirected fury when he got over the shock of seeing the traitor in his subconscious. "How did you get in here?!"

The fox itself merely chuckled in a deep rumble that shook the imaginary ground and rippled through the nonexistent water. "**So another Uchiha, is it? I would recognize those eyes anywhere.**"

"Another Uchiha?" he repeated, ignoring the lethal glares from the blonde standing beside him, "I take it you've been suppressed before."

"**Only once. After all, your blood contains chakra more cursed than my own…**"

"It doesn't really matter," the raven-haired avenger stated blankly as he shoved the power of the fox back into its prison with little effort. "All I need to know is that Naruto's true strength does not surpass my own."

The bars rattled as the demon laughed heartily. "**Believe what you may, boy, but I will offer you some words of advice.**"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow.

"**Don't kill Naruto…**" its voice began to fade, "**You'll regret it… if you do…**"

He merely stared the cage down before his mental projection shimmered from Curse's mind, leaving behind a seemingly powerless Naruto who could only stare at his adversary's former position.

The nine-tailed beast chuckled as its presence fell to slumber forced upon it by the Sharingan. "**So the Shangri-La mutagen is… still growing…**"

"What?" he turned his head slowly at the comment, glaring with apprehension at the tired eyes of his unwilling captive. "What's the 'Shangri-La mutagen'?"

"**The first name…**" it replied before slipping into a deep sleep, "**Of the Sharingan.**"

The blonde genius blinked and he was back in reality. Only a second had passed, but it was long enough for Sasuke to make an attempt on his life again. The Uzumaki frowned; this might be the moment he had to reveal his true nature, but lo and behold the Uchiha was forced to leap away as Yamato induced a slew of living lumber to attack. The traitor scaled the crater walls then flung his arm out in a blur, tossing a handful of chakra-charged needles to intercept the granite shuriken put together by Shia's elemental manipulations. He then raised a hand to the sky to unleash his strongest technique when Orochimaru appeared out of nowhere and calmly forbid him from doing so.

"Now, now, Sasuke," he chided like the old man he was, "There's no need for that." His slithery eyes glanced into the rubble-laden hole when he thought he felt a familiar presence, not finding anyone but recognizing the chakra signature as it fled from the scene. "_Hm… it's that girl again. I thought all of Takaimi's forces were dead. How amusing…_"

The Uchiha protested valiantly against his master, displaying obvious disdain for the snake Sannin as well as his right hand man, Kabuto. The legendary ninja kept his cool and ordered a retreat which was quickly obeyed, leaving team seven saddened, dazed, frustrated, and confused.

Sakura wept over the departure of Sasuke while Naruto ultimately failed in imitating the motion of sadness, having to lie prostrate on the ground to hide his apathetic tears. But soon enough the sudden appearance of the masked girl during the brief skirmish surfaced and the blonde spent a good portion of the day clearing his name, offering that the Ghost might have been a disgruntled Sound ninja. When the others openly recalled Kabuto informing them that no one else currently resided within the subterranean structure, Curse reminded them that the Yakushi was a notorious liar. Since that explanation was shaky yet plausible the Uzumaki knew his secret was safe for now, but he now understood that everyone would be permanently suspicious.

"_Crap,_" he thought, "_Maybe Hinata can erase their memories for me._"

Having failed the mission, the Konoha team headed back to their home city with the Ghost following closely behind, oblivious to the fact that Sai's decoy assignment of supplying Orochimaru with vital information regarding Tsunade's Special Forces had sparked off events that would eventually change the Leaf village in ways no one could have predicted.

* * *

What events could those be?!

What did Hinata find?!

Will you be leaving lots of reviews for this (mostly) revealing chapter?!

Haha, I love doing that. Sorry if the fight with Sasgay was... gay... but believe me, this ain't the last we've seen of our beloved (read: hated) Uchiha. He'll have plenty of time in the spotlight.

On a side note, there's one more piece of insignificant canon to clear before the true meat of the story comes into play. Anyone care to venture a guess as to what that is? (Hint: it's in the manga)

LOVE AND PEACE!! (I think I'll start doing this at the end every time. Your thoughts?)


	26. By The Power Of Greyskull!

Guh, the chapter length got shorter, but it's chock fulla good stuff. Lots and Lots of long term setup and foreshadowing (winkwink).

Also, I remember some of you asking for a pic of Shia. I got bored a few days ago and did just that. Actually, it's a drawing of Shia and Naruto (which also sums up their entire relationship). The link to this is up on the author page. Go check it out if you're curious.

Now on with it!!

* * *

Upon returning to the village, Sakura made a beeline for the Hokage tower to submit her immediate report to Tsunade. Included in the oral recollection were the major events of the mission, Sasuke's unnatural growth, and the appearance of the pale-masked stranger.

The female head ninja cocked an eyebrow at the familiar traits of Shia. "Did you catch a name by any chance?"

"No," she shook her head, "Nothing. She just came out of nowhere then disappeared after saving Naruto…"

"She did what?" Cautious apprehension lined her voice; she clearly recalled the sole sighting of the Ghost from a few years ago and easily matched the similar descriptions between these two unrelated occurrences.

"Sasuke was about to stab Naruto and this girl just appeared out the blue and attacked him."

"I see," she paused in thought, "Did she do anything else other than aiding Naruto?"

"No… I don't think so…"

The slug mistress nodded in understanding, her mind running through all variations of what this could mean. "_It would appear our Ghost actually ventures outside the village. Now the question that remains is ' why'?_" She dismissed her pink-haired subordinate and deliberated on her next course of action, taking into account some method of monitoring the elusive stranger's movements.

--

Naruto arrived in his apartment shortly after his brief meeting with the female Hokage. "Guh, mission reports are such a waste of time," he whined, "We either failed or we didn't…" Satisfactorily noting that no intrusive presence seemed to be haunting him at the moment, he descended the trap-laden shaft into his private chamber and, as soon as his feet hit the ground, yelled, "Shia!"

Said auburn-haired girl poked her head out of her room. "Yes?"

"What the hell were you thinking!" he shouted and glared, "You could have blown my cover!"

"Ah," she gasped at the outburst, having never been the subject of his ire before, "I-I'm sorry…"

"You realize that things just got harder for me, right?" his tone lessened a bit, but flaring annoyance still remained.

"I-I'm s-sorry…" tears began moistening her eyes, "It l-looked like th-that boy w-was a-about to k-k-ki…" She began to break down at the notion of the Uzumaki dying, unable to even speak the word 'kill'.

"_Aw, crap,_" he realized before strolling up to the crying girl and running his fingers through her messy hair. "I'm sorry," he apologized with a sad smile, "Please don't cry…"

"Okay," the girl replied surreptitiously as her lowered head casually swung up to reveal a sly smirk and crafty eyes. "I won't."

"Woah!" The blonde instinctively backed up and steeled himself. "Aiya! W-when did you get here?"

"Just now." Her unnerving smile never left her lips. "Here," she produced a scroll from the large raggedy pouch strapped to her back and offered it to the teen prodigy, "Pulled something off that guy's body."

He warily accepted the rolled-up document while keeping his brilliant eyes glued to the shady alter ego. "You're the one who killed that guy trailing me?"

"Yep," she responded, planting her fists against her hips as if bragging over a great achievement. "He pissed me off; tryin' to kill you himself. He didn't know Curse is mine."

Said genius didn't know what to make of that comment. "_What a weird thing for her to say…_"

"Well, you gonna read that thing or stare at me all day?"

Her voice broke him from his inner dialogue. "Yeah… I'm not taking my eyes off of you. Every time we've met you've tried to kill me."

Aiya's eyes screwed shut and her mischievous smile widened from ear to ear. "Not now," she stated with a rasp in her voice, "These ROOT guys piss me off more than you do right now. They think they're so cool…"

"You read this already," he concluded from her specific response.

"Yep."

"What's it say?"

Her grin dropped with her arms and she entered a decidedly bored lecture mode. "Not much really. Guy trailin' you was a ROOT agent ordered to follow you and kill you if you became a threat to the village."

"I see… any idea why?"

She shrugged. "Dunno, but it's got Danzo's signature on it."

"Danzo signed it?!" he exclaimed and ripped the scroll open. Sure enough, that name was scrawled at the end. "_Why would he personally sign this? He's the head of the old ROOT program; why would he compromise his organization like this?_" After a few seconds of intense thought, he realized that the second personality was still there glaring at him. "What?"

For a split second, Aiya blinked in surprise. She _blinked_ in _surprise_. The overly smug, aggressive mindset was actually put off by something. "Are you…" she began hesitantly, an uncharacteristic action that spoke volumes of her stupor, "Are you like me?"

He stood there for a moment. "Huh?"

"A split personality; do you have one?"

His brow furrowed but his mind went into red alert. "_Shit shit shit! She saw the fox! She saw the fox!_" It took all the willpower he possessed to restrain his sudden anxiety, but he pulled it off. "No… why?"

She shook her head, an odd unreadable look carved onto her features. "Nothin'. Call me when there's a fight." Her specialized seal began to fade along with her consciousness, but her mind was still very much active. "_He's lying. He's got something inside him. He's…_" a strangely fulfilling conclusion presented itself to her, "_Kinda like me…_"

And just like that the harshness inherent in the girl's eyes receded and she blinked. "Was that Aiya?" Shia asked, obvious bewilderment and mild concern lining her voice.

"Yeah…" the blonde replied in a far-off tone, his thoughts going everywhere at once. "_I can't believe Aiya didn't try to kill me. I've never actually had a peaceful conversation with her until now. Something's happening to her… could it be because she saw the fox's power?_" He cast those mildly inconsequential notions from his mind and refocused. "_Now's not the time for that. I've gotta get these orders from Danzo over to Hinata. That old fart's really gonna try to kill me now that his agent's dead; I'll need her help taking him down._"

"Curse?"

"I gotta go see Hinata," he stated abruptly, immediately moving to change into his alter ego's clothing. "You stay here and hold down the fort; I'll be back in a bit."

"Can't I go with you?"

He considered that idea before shaking his head. "Not this time. Things could go downhill real fast, and I don't want you caught up in it."

"But…" she began to argue before being interrupted by a kind smile and a hand on her shoulder.

"I just want you to be safe," he responded, "I'll let you come along when we know what we're dealing with."

She gazed at him with auburn eyes then nodded, a smile of her own creasing her lips. "Okay."

"Alright, be good…" His voice trailed off as the hatch leading into the tunnels squealed shut behind him.

Shia stared at that portion of the floor for a few seconds longer, glad that Curse cared so much for her. She found it odd that there was a newfound sense of being connected to him; something inside her felt a little bit closer to the genius.

Almost as if the other portion of her fractured personality had now found common ground with the blonde…

--

After the steady trek through the appropriate tunnels the Uzumaki eventually came upon the concealed heavy steel hatch that led into the small compound belonging to his fellow genius. He pounded on the door and heard the faint echo it produced as he waited. Seconds later, the metal barricade unlocked then swung open and the blonde was almost bowled over by the immense amount of chakra cascading from the chamber. The Hyuuga appeared immediately afterwards with a fantastically bright smile, grabbed his hand, and almost broke his wrist while yanking him in, the massive door closing behind him.

"Naruto!" Silence exclaimed, excitement pouring off her as she led the blonde to her main room, "You gotta see this! C'mon, hurry!"

He said nothing in contradiction to her command, allowing the taken aback expression on his face to do the talking for him. An instant later he stumbled into the target enclosure and was released by his blue-haired comrade. He was about to speak when his azure eyes noticed the strong blue illumination bathing every surface and his gaze settled on its source: some kind of crystal mounted on a stand. The shard was partially drowned in wiring attached to nearby monitors that beeped and hummed with all manners of information and data.

"Look at this thing!" she yelled, "Isn't it awesome?!"

"W-what is it?" he stuttered in absolute awe.

"I have no idea!" she proclaimed with a beaming smile that put the fantastically cool light to shame, "But whatever it is, it _makes_ chakra!"

He still couldn't get over the sheer amount of said energy produced by the carved stone, but his lips managed to voice his concerns regarding security. "Does… anyone else know about this?"

She shook her head. "They shouldn't; they'd be here by now. It was a real pain to transport this thing from the Sand village without anyone noticing…"

Little did the female prodigy know that the infamous saying 'famous last words' couldn't have applied more to her statement.

--

The few seconds that the hatch to Hinata's chamber opened was all it took for the unending aura of the chakra-creating crystal to announce its existence to the world.

Tsunade sat behind her desk drowning in paperwork per usual when the brief wave hit her. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she bolted from her chair to the window behind her, instantly scanning the village for any signs of a threat.

Instead, she found an equally confused city doing the exact same thing; searching. Those trained in the ninja arts who understood the subtleties of chakra glanced in all directions so rapidly that it was a wonder their necks hadn't snapped. Even civilians were alarmed; the only time they had felt such intense power was when the nine-tailed fox attacked so many years ago.

As that thought entered the slug mistress's mind though, she stopped to consider it. She realized that the fox's chakra was a manifestation of the demon itself; in short, its natural energy gave off a certain 'emotion'. Anyone who had survived the demon's attack knew that the beast's chakra reeked of hatred and anger- it was practically palpable.

"_But this feels different,_" she analyzed, "_There's nothing at all. It's like it's… pure, empty… or something like that. I've never felt such strong chakra that didn't carry the intentions of its user…_" As expected, she was broken from her inner observation by the sudden arrival of key members of the ANBU forces as well as a few choice elite shinobi.

"Lady Tsunade," the lead masked ninja stated from his prone position, "What's happening?"

The blonde stared at the group with blank eyes as she considered her reply. "I don't know…" her voice sounded miles away. She blinked and life and rationality returned to her irises. "All of you: find out what that was and report everything suspicious back to me immediately! Dismissed!" The moment the command left her lips everyone cleared the room… save one. "Kakashi," she addressed the lone man, "What do you need?"

The copycat ninja approached her desk with humble hesitation. "Lady Tsunade…" he began, thinking of a way to word this so she wouldn't bash his skull in for not informing her sooner, "There's something I need to tell you. It's about an undocumented mission the Third gave me…"

--

Sadly, Tsunade and those loyal to her weren't the only shinobi to feel the unsettlingly mighty force. For the first time in many years, Danzo's features and posture had stiffened to betray his sudden shock. "_It's the strongmen,_" he concluded as several of his ROOT agents arrived, "_They're back!_"

"Master Danzo!" one of his faithful followers called, "What are your orders?"

"That came from the tunnels outside the ROOT compound," he knew. That was the only way for such a powerful surge to escape immediate discovery in a city filled with talented specialists. "Find it and acquire it."

"If it is a threat?"

He paused for a moment, praying that he didn't hear his subordinate just ask such a retarded question. "Destroy it."

"Yes sir!"

--

The doctor rushed through the freezing hallways to the monstrously large corridor located within the previously forbidden compound. His benefactor had instructed him rather abruptly to activate the uncountable thousands of pods that lied under peaceful frost and ice, although he wasn't sure how to do that. He hoped it would be a simple task; his leader had never in living memory been curt and the faux surgeon didn't care to find out what happened if the boss ever actually became angry.

"_I've never seen him like that before,_" he turned the recent unnerving memory over in his mind, "_He's always been so polite. I wonder why…?_"

He cut his inner musings short upon arriving at the huge frosted tunnel that stretched so far it disappeared into the misty horizon. With a small amount of panic, he approached a panel located atop a small outcropping before the front doors and undid the lock. The front panel slid off with a crackling of ice and a preserved monitor that appeared brand new came to life. Fumbling with a device given to him by his leader, he eventually located the slim piece of metal and inserted it into a matching jack on the side of the display.

The screen flickered as the machine automatically read the data on the bulky card and the strange lettering that escaped the doctor changed into the familiar characters that registered in his mind. "_Good, I can finally read this crap._" Now that he understood the many commands on the monitor, he punched a few digitized buttons that eventually produced the result that would surely save his hide from the unexpected ire of his boss.

A quick blast of a claxon echoed throughout the massive chamber and the screen blinked with vivid colors as the eternal lines and columns of man-sized pods hissed to life with cold fissures. The monitor now displayed a countdown time measured in weeks underneath the words 'WARM UP CYCLE INITIATED'.

"_Warm up cycle?_" the man wondered, "_For what?_"

--

"So this thing… makes chakra?" the blonde prodigy pried.

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I have no idea!" Hinata exclaimed, "It just… makes it! No materials, no fuel, nothing!"

"So it's an infinite source of chakra…" Naruto concluded, mentally equating the crystal to his imprisoned fox, minus the inhuman level of bloodlust.

"Yep!"

"That's… really cool…" His voice was detached from the conversation. Turmoil reined over his mind at the moment; this perfectly cut shard produced a kind of chakra free from the emotions of a natural being, but he had only seen an amount such as this exude from the demon fox. He was worried that this… thing… might be a long-forgotten container for a tenant similar to his. "_But more importantly,_" he knew, "_If I'm gonna warn Hinata about it then I've gotta tell her about the fox._" He took a deep breath. "_I hope it goes well…_"

"Hey Hinata," he softly addressed the indigo-haired teen only to find her gazing blankly at the mysterious crystal. "Hinata? Hey Hinata." His fears mounted. "Hinata. Hinata!" he shouted in her ear and roughly shook her shoulder.

"Huh? Sorry," she broke from her trance, "I was just thinking of all the applications this thing could be used for." The frightening thing was that she spoke the truth- she had honestly tuned the rest of the world out while in her inner musings until Curse physically reminded her that she wasn't alone. "_Crap, this habit's getting worse._"

"There's, uh… something I need to tell you…" Apprehension dominated the boy's tone and Silence could hear it.

"Yes?" she returned with her attention focused solely on him. "_I can tell this is important to him._"

"I… I think I might know why…"

"Curse! Silence!" a panicked voice suddenly interrupted as Garaza burst into the room from her cramped enclosure, "Company's comin'!"

"What?!" the Hyuuga exclaimed, "How many?!"

"Eight of 'em!"

"How'd they find this place?!" Naruto swallowed his disappointment over the interference of his admittance, but this was far more important. "Don't tell me they followed me?!"

"No! I heard 'em makin' their way here on my wires right after Curse got here!"

Hinata paled. "Oh shit… they felt the crystal when I opened the door…"

"I'll hold 'em off!" the Nashin stated as she gripped a handful of rings that kept her impossible web of reconnaissance wires taut. "You guys get ready to take 'em out." She jerked the fistful of iron loops, yanking back on the attached wires that flowed out of the wall through cramped steel tubes. Feeling resistance from a few strands, she knew that at least part of the initial attack caught someone. Sending chakra through the now overextended wires, her rough hands felt the subtle vibrations echo through her hair-thin cables as explosive tags taped over said lines detonated. She felt a spark and decided to send a little of her acidic blood down the line as a present…

"This is bad," Silence muttered impatiently as she struggled to bolt her heavy armor on. It was never designed to be donned in a hurry; ease of wear had been sacrificed in lieu of protection and efficiency.

"Lemme help you," Naruto stated as he held a generator-laden arm guard while his blue-haired counterpart secured its straps. Under different circumstances he would have enjoyed the excuse to touch the girl, but this was not the time or place for such thoughts.

A painfully slow minute passed before the Hyuuga fully locked down her excessive armor over her slack leather uniform. She wrapped the unusual metal coil over her midsection then magnetically attached her folding shaft of a spear to her back before lowering her intimidating mask over her face. Turning to the already prepped object of her affections, she nodded and said, "Let's go."

He bowed his head in return, producing a smirk to kill the pain of having to avoid telling her about the fox once again. "Yeah."

--

"They're quite prepared," agent five stated mundanely. Immediately following the wave of unknown chakra his team was dispatched to locate and capture the source. It was a particularly large squad but the ROOT organization stressed individual decisions in the field, hence the eight ninjas rather than the standard four.

But now that number had dwindled down to five. While following a path through the extensive honeycomb with the last location of the chakra pulse serving as an unseen beacon, they came upon a hallway that forced them to reconsider their hasty measures. They had been foolish to approach with as little caution as they did, having overestimated their own abilities over the simplest of shinobi tricks; traps.

Agent seven was caught in the initial wave of concealed weaponry; a web of interconnected wires exploded from behind the dust coating the walls and cleanly removed his head from his shoulders as they flexed and tensed across the narrow passage. Agent three, having lost her left index finger to the barrage of tightened strands, perished in the conflagration following the coiled attack. Agent four's fate wasn't much better although it was far stranger; he had grasped a handful of the steel threads in an attempt to shock whoever manipulated them before the loose wires whiplashed around his arm, effectively trapping it. Then the impromptu cable boiled away as some kind of strange crimson liquid slid down the smooth metal and encircled agent four's restrained limb; melting his skin, muscles, and tendons down to the bone before dissipating and leaving him unconscious from the pain. He bled out soon afterward.

"Form up," agent five calmed his nerves. He had merely been alarmed by the sudden appearance of the traps, a mistake he wouldn't dare repeat. "Take things slow." The remaining members gave the slightest of nods in acknowledgment and did so, crouching as they came upon corners to peek around the edges. "_Did we make a wrong turn?_" the unspoken leader of the group wondered as they practically made their way blindly through interconnecting dim hallways. Another blast of the strange chakra reconfirmed his previous observations and removed all doubt from his mind. "Go," he whispered loudly, prompting those under his command to quicken their pace while keeping their eyes peeled for more concealed snares. A minute passed and the sounds of their collective breathing and heartbeats deafened their hearing until footsteps echoed towards their location. "_Who's coming? They might not know we're here- they're not even trying to mask their presence…_"

As agent five considered his next course of action, he heard a silent whizz of air alongside a rapid muted clicking that gradually grew louder. "We've been spotted!" he yelled as several objects resembling yo-yos flew by with spinning buzz saws lining their edges.

Naruto grit his teeth in concentration as he pulled his curled fingers back to revoke the lethal playthings, having missed the intruders when they flattened themselves against the walls. "_Just gotta make 'em come in close…_"

Only two of the five fell for the ploy. The foremost duo charged ahead without even a glance at the returning weaponized toys, drawing slim blades from beneath their thick robes in anticipation of killing the strongman before he could intercept them. One of them stepped in a puddle on the way and paused momentarily; why was this desolate hallway wet?

His answer came in the form of a film-covered palm reaching from said pool of water and jabbing his ankle. A bolt of excruciating lightening shot up his leg and the ROOT member fell to his nonworking knee, his movement crippled thanks to his indiscretions. He swung back from his prone position while flinging his cloak up to reveal neat rows of slim knives; he intended to utilize his patented Bladed Butterfly technique to stall the enemy long enough to limp away. Gathering chakra into his arm, he quickly stroked the line connecting the hilts and the weapons instantly ripped from their holsters to form a rough butterfly. He thrust his controlling hand towards the armored female rising from the puddle and his artificial insect flew forward…

Then blasted back into his struggling body, almost passing straight through him with incredible velocity. Hinata barely had to move; Yin and Yang's enlarged magnetic field could now be charged and dispersed in a moment's notice. All she had to do was activate the sequence with the twitch of a finger and the opposing force of physics counteracted the attack so violently that its potency was increased tenfold and sent back at its owner. Knowing that her intelligent comrade could take out the opponent gunning for him, she faced the remaining three and shouldered her unraveled shaft of a spear, not bothering to unfold it.

Meanwhile, Curse prepared to deliver his deathblow to the youth approaching his position. The blonde continued to manipulate his distant yo-yos, allowing the foolish boy to think he wouldn't try something new. Whether or not this ploy actually worked escaped him; the enemy activated some kind of technique to replicate the surfaces around him, essentially rendering his body invisible in the poor lighting. Naruto withheld his smirk; his sharp senses easily saw the opponent's outline as the doomed kid bounded off the walls to randomize his trajectory as well as increase velocity. The ROOT agent attempted to flank him by stepping off the wall and strike him from behind, but the Uzumaki cut him off at this stage.

In a flash, the blonde genius twisted his right arm and sent chakra to the farthest oversized bracelet on said limb. A specific seal activated in accordance to the maneuvered energy and a harsh exotic blade sprung from the engraving then twisted back far past the boy's elbow. With this new weapon in tow he rammed his arm back and imbedded the curving steel into the target's masked head, killing the youth instantly. He pulled the unique knife free from the punctured skull and slowly withdrew his chakra from the seal-laden jewelry, prompting the blade to recede into its corresponding mark. Satisfied, he fully recalled his yo-yos back, resealed them as well, and then joined his friend in battle.

Agent five felt the twinges of panic tug on his mind, an emotion he thought Danzo's program had banished long ago. He nodded at the agents to his sides and placed his open palms on the cold floor, invoking a wall of earth to rise between the respective groups. They then leapt back as the final female of the team blew an enhanced fireball into the unaffected barricade while the other squad mate swung an arm-sized folding fan at the conflagration, prompting the flames' intensity to increase a hundredfold before agent five raised another wall, trapping the uncontrolled blaze in an impromptu furnace.

Silence found it amusing that the ROOT ninjas thought they could slow her down with such a simple technique, her Byakugan supplying the necessary information to reveal the hostile plan. "The second we punch a hole in this wall," she stated calmly to the blonde at her side, "It'll turn into a blast furnace. They're hoping that we're stupid enough to fry ourselves."

Curse nodded then smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "I got an idea," he said mischievously, "Punch a hole anyway."

"You sure?" She trusted him, but it seemed like an unnecessary risk. "_But it could be fun…_"

"Oh yeah," he shot his trademark grin at her as his right hand formed a standard Rasengan before pulling away, holding the chaotic sphere in place with an invisible orb between his slowly rotating palms. "It'll be fun!"

"Alright," she cocked her head as she unfolded her oversized spear with a jerk, "Here goes." Her built-in generators sparkled as they produced a sufficient charge and she redirected it into her bladed shaft. Once it peaked, she rammed the thick wall with the electrified pole and instantly ducked when, sure enough, a hole crumbled in the barricade and the searing flames erupted from the small opening.

Naruto then flung himself into the fire with his active technique. Hinata watched in awe as the conflagration was actually sucked into the deadly sphere by the invisible barrier of wind he used to put distance between his hands and the Rasengan. In a matter of seconds the impromptu furnace was emptied and the blonde compressed the winds into his lethal orb. The high level technique burned with beautiful azure flames while spinning as if a thing possessed. "Take down the wall for me," he addressed the genius girl with a nod of his head, "And I'll take someone down with this."

She chuckled after a moment, impressed that he could overpower fire with wind, an element that was supposed to pale in the face of flames. Charging her spear again, she complied with the teen's request and, the moment the second wall's hole crumbled into existence, the Uzumaki slammed his incendiary ball into the man awaiting his arrival. The opponent shrieked in pain as the technique unraveled on him before the seconds passed and his body was all but reduced to ash.

While Curse dealt with the wind user, Silence engaged the female shinobi. The woman reeled back to invoke another high level fire technique but Hinata beat her to the punch by running her hands through a complex series of seals and activating a technique unique to her arsenal: the Water Condenser. "_Wow, I suck at names…_" she whined as her extending chakra squeezed the minute droplets of water in the air into a solid string of liquid. Her appendage of concentrated natural energy then collided with the woman and the enemy's body writhed as all its moisture was sucked into the miniature vortex. The dead woman's withered corpse hit the ground and the Hyuuga released her chakra, the gathered water splashing to the ground. Her superior vision saw that the final ninja decided to take the initiative and do the smart thing- run. From what the Konoha duo had seen of his strengths, the man possessed abilities weak to both geniuses' techniques; escaping to report the intelligent teens was all he could hope to do.

Naturally said prodigies begged to differ. Silence moved to intercept the man but found that he actually had a useful skill in his repertoire: running. "_I'm fast,_" she knew, "_But I'm not that fast… not yet, anyway…_"

"Hey," the blonde stepped up to the girl and pried the folded spear from her arms, "Lemme borrow this."

"Sure," she replied, curious as to what he planned to do with it.

"Geez, could you make this thing any bigger?" he inquired playfully at the weapon's length- almost twice his own. Naruto grasped the center of the spear with an iron grip and reeled back at an extreme angle, invoking yet another weakened form of his overly useful technique, the Nine Tornados. A rapid gale spun around the rear half of the weapon and, when it reached its apex, he lobbed it and it sailed down the corridor at breakneck speed.

Agent five heard the weapon careening toward him and, glancing back to ensure proper evasive action, maneuvered around the cramped hallway so the straight-shot attack would blow by him. "_Piece of cake,_" he mused smugly before spotting a new addition to the spear. "_Wait a minute… those are… those damn yo-yos!_"

At the last possible moment, the Uzumaki had unsealed a quartet of his lethal playthings and intertwined them around the shaft. When he released the weapon the wires attached to the deadly toys allowed him to channel chakra to the bladed disks and thus control the trajectory of the airborne steel shaft. The final ROOT member never had a chance; he was impaled right through the heart before the wired spear continued through his fresh body and crashed into the ground a dozen meters ahead.

"Ta-da!" the blonde announced victoriously as he withdrew the yo-yos and everything connected to them, corpse included. He untangled the toys' wiring and happily handed the oversized weapon back to the pale-eyed Hyuuga. "I won."

She stared at him, blinking in amazement at the sheer ingenuity of the simple method. "Wait… you won?"

"There were five of them," he recollected aloud, "And I got three. I won." His lips parted in a wide smile; he almost never got to brag about stuff like this these days.

"Oh, shut up," she giggled as she punched him in the shoulder. She folded her elongated spear and reattached it to the magnetic coils around her midsection. "You used my spear!"

"Yeah," he cooed, "But I got him."

"Fine," she resigned with a subdued smirk, "You won. Now, let's collect all these bodies and clean up this mess. If any more patrols come through and see this they'll know they're on the right track."

"Ugh," Naruto whined, knowing that while it was an undesirable job, it still needed to be done. "Alright, let's just hurry it up though. I don't feel like kicking more ass today…"

--

"Really now?" Tsunade said with her fingers interlaced before her face, "So this has happened before?"

"Yes ma'am," Kakashi responded politely. The female Hokage was clearly upset at being kept in the dark until now, so he knew to tread lightly. "But never to this extent."

"Only the Third ever really felt it?" Her repetition of certain facts in question format was a testament to her annoyance.

"Yes ma'am."

The elder woman sighed and turned to gaze out the half-ring of windows, her eyes glazed over in thought. She turned back to the jonin and asked with soft concern, "Was there ever any evidence Naruto was involved?"

"Nothing conclusive, but…" He wondered how to phrase his old observations of the boy's odd behavior.

"But…?"

"I… really don't know how to say it," he admitted, "Whenever I watched him he always seemed to be pretending."

"He's had a rough childhood," Tsunade's brow furrowed as she considered alternate possibilities, "It wouldn't be unusual for him to behave differently in front of others."

"But that's the thing; his mood almost always changed whenever people left him alone."

"Almost?"

"Well, he… uh…" he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "He kinda knew I was watching him half the time…"

"Really?" Seriousness returned to her voice. She had always known the blonde had great potential, but for a genin of Naruto's portrayed skills to notice a jonin instructor discreetly observing him would take nothing less than extreme awareness- perception not inherent in anyone so young save for true prodigies… "_Naruto's a sweet kid, but he couldn't be a genius… could he?_"

"I'll take all this into consideration, Kakashi," the blonde Hokage stated, "As for the assignment given you by Sarutobi, I authorize you to continue. But this time report everything, not just unusual behavior. This might be part of something deeper. Understood?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Dismissed."

The copycat ninja disappeared from the room in a puff of smoke, deciding to take his duties in earnest this time. As if harkened by his departure, Anko Mitarashi burst through the door with an exhausted appearance dominating her features.

"Anko!" Tsunade called, assuming from the looks of the woman that she found something. "What is it?!"

"Lord Hokage," the snake mistress panted as she wearily approached the desk, "There's something I need to tell you."

"Oh good lord…" She could feel another headache brewing.

"_I need to do this,_" the Mitarashi reminded herself, "_No more secrets. It's my duty to protect this village with my life, and if he's placing it in danger I'll be betraying the village by keeping him a secret…_" She strengthened her resolve, having argued with herself for countless days over her course of action. Her mind was tired and her body suffered for it, but it had to be done. She placed her palms on the desk and put her weight on the shaky limbs as she stared Tsunade dead in the eye. "First off, I've gotta tell you about three years ago when a man calling himself 'Curse' contacted me…"

And so Anko spilled everything she knew relating to the ominous figure; his visit, potential companions, Takaimi and her rebels… everything.

* * *

OOOWWOOOOOOOUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!! MENTOK, THE MIND TAKER...! Proceed.

So yeah, like I said, lots of foreshadowing and long term setup. You'll find I do this a lot, so it'd be good to keep almost everything here in mind (which'll be frustrating in and of itself), 'cause it'll most likely become extremely important later on.

Also, remember to check out the (craptastic!) drawing of Shia and Naruto!

Also (again)- I got a review on the last chapter claiming I need to cut down on the time spent on OC's.

Now, I know very well that you guys read this for familiar characters- I get that. As a reader myself, I know exactly what that person meant. So with this in mind, I really do try to keep screen time with my OC's to a minimum. Most of their appearances are there solely to enhance their pasts, the current storyline, and to make you as a reader develop a kind of emotional response towards them (love 'em, hate 'em, love to hate 'em...).

So I turn to you, the readers, to once again leave some feedback regarding this question: Do you think I've saturated this story with too much time spent on OCs? Please let me know- it'll influence future decisions.

Thanks a bunch! GO TEAM VENTURE!


	27. Stoned Snakey Sexy Superpowers! Owned!

Here ya go!

Been a busy week, and it's only gonna get worse. My third class started last week and there's about a month of classes left. This means that a TON of work is on the horizon and severely cutting into my writing time. So, I just gotta get to workin' and quit goofin' around, I guess. So full of hate!

Hah, guess what? Turns out my fanfic writing skills are coming out in handy- my newest class required that we split up into groups and flesh out an idea (due tomorrow). One guy in our group gave us the basic idea and I pretty much created the plot singlehandedly (with my group's suggestions, of course). It's gonna be awesome!

And who knows? Maybe in ten years that idea and plotline will actually make its way to film... wouldn't that rock? I ain't gonna hold my breath, but it's the thought that counts.

So, enjoy this chapter! FLUFF LOVERS BEWARE!!-- you will fall in love with me. I say 'you're welcome' in advance. (such modesty, no?)

* * *

"How're we gonna get back in?" Naruto inquired as the Konoha duo dragged the eight ROOT corpses on a chain to Silence's lair.

"Through the door…?" Hinata replied apprehensively.

"No, I mean, when we open the hatch that crystal's chakra is just gonna flood out again. How will we hide it?"

"Oh, is that all?" The Hyuuga flicked her finger against the dark wall, pinging one of Garaza's many hidden wires. "Garaza, put the crystal in that metal container I brought it in then let us in when you're done. Got it?" The steel strand vibrated in acknowledgment.

"She heard that?" the blonde was still impressed.

"Yep," she smiled behind her intimidating steel mask, "She's got the best ears on the planet." They approached the out-of-the-way door and leaned against the adjacent wall as they awaited the Nashin to complete her task. "So, these guys friends of yours?"

"Yeah right," he chuckled, retrieving the written order for his murder from his multilayered jacket, "I'm pretty sure these guys are from the ROOT organization under Danzo."

"How do you figure?" She took the small scroll, unraveled it, and scanned its contents before nodding. "'Should you deem him a threat to the safety of Konoha, eliminate him by any means…'" the blue-haired girl repeated the message aloud, "Become a threat? Did Danzo find out your identity?!"

"No," Curse shook his head, the false mane of brilliant crimson hair fluttering at the gesture, "Shia followed me and killed him while he spied on me. He didn't get anything." The teen danced around the subject of the fox, regretting that he was essentially lying to his friend by concealing the full truth. "_I hate lying to her… but now's not the time for this…_"

"And these are Danzo's men," the genius girl rolled up the document and handed it back to the blonde, "So the old war hawk's up to something. The ROOT organization was supposed to have been shut down a long time ago, but we've already known he's been lurking around down here."

Naruto nodded, recalling his brief battle with three shinobi dressed similarly to the recently deceased ninjas before his first encounter with Shia. "Yeah, but… why now? He's always been pretty quiet."

Hinata said nothing in reply, lost in deep thought. "_It's pretty obvious- anyone would want this crystal's power. Now that Danzo's aware of it, it really doesn't matter what his motives are._"

"Hinata?"

She didn't reply, the gears in her overactive mind still turning.

"Hinata?" the voice grew louder.

"Huh? Sorry," her cheeks flushed under her metal visage; her habit of tuning the world out while in deliberation was becoming ridiculous. "Danzo is known for his ruthlessness. Since we've pretty much confirmed that he has a faithful following," she gestured towards the numerous corpses, "And we already know that he's targeting you for whatever reason, he'll be a threat. If he gets a hand on the crystal, he'll probably use it to reinforce his own beliefs."

"He's loyal to the village, though," the blonde retorted, recalling his emotionless teammate on team seven. "Sai's ultimate mission was to assassinate Sasuke- a threat to the village."

"Ultimate mission?" she repeated.

"Yeah. He had a diversionary assignment to cover up his motives, though- he handed over a list of the ANBU forces' identities."

Silence arched an eyebrow. "Did he now…?"

Before the Uzumaki could continue the conversation the bolts to the heavy steel hatch clacked open and the doorway opened; the overwhelming wave of chakra a fraction of its previous strength. Garaza stood behind the entrance and impatiently waved them in, a rushed look adorning her tomboyish features. "Hurry up!" she grabbed one of the bodies and hurled it into the chamber behind her. "There's more bastards comin'! Get in before they smell the blood!"

The dual prodigies knew not to question a person of the Nashin's intelligence in a dire situation, so they immediately handled the corpses and dragged them inside before slamming the door shut.

"Alright, Nuren!" the blood user called into the room containing the repressed shard, "Open 'er up!"

"Yahoo!" the addict cheered as he pulled apart his personal amalgamated machine that now sported new additions- the makeshift pod of soft metal that Hinata scrapped from the dome that housed the energy creating shard beneath the Sand village. Apparently he had taken her container and, in no time at all, incorporated it into his own device, creating a kind of demented shell.

"What the hell did you do?!" the blue-haired genius shouted, pissed beyond rational thought that this squatter would touch her equipment and even go as far as altering it without her express permission. If she had a fault, it had to be strangers going behind her back to analyze her creations. The fact that she and Nuren got off on the wrong foot did nothing to help matters. "It took forever to build that damn thing and you just took it and did whatever you felt like!"

"It's just a house for the plague," he responded while replacing the powerful object back onto its wire-laden pedestal. "I just made a better house for it!"

"You… asshole!" the Hyuuga was fuming; she had never been so angry before in her life. "I'm gonna kill you!" She lunged at the druggie and it required the combined efforts of Garaza and Curse to hold her back.

"Hinata!" the blonde called, "Calm down! Killing him won't solve anything!"

"He messed with my machine!" she retorted fiercely.

"He reinforced the shell!" the Nashin also defended the addict.

"How would he know how it works?! He's a stoner!"

"He's a technical genius," the blood user returned in an elevated calm voice, "He's good at that kind of thing. He woke up after you guys left and saw that the shell you brought back was flimsy so he reinforced it. You should be thanking him for that…"

"Shut up, Garaza," the intelligent girl's pale eyes promised pain if her older confidant continued. "Get out of the way."

"Hinata," the redhead strengthened her grip on her friend's wrist, "If Curse and I have to knock you out to calm you down, we'll do it. You're my friend- I don't want you to make any rash decisions."

"That's _it_," Silence lost it and began reaching for her weaponry. As promised, she was rendered unconscious with a squeeze on the neck instantly followed by an 'injection' of chakra from an awaiting Nashin. Her limp body slumped to the ground, supported by her caring friends as they cautiously laid her on the floor.

Meanwhile, Nuren idled the moment away by connecting a few of his device's wires to the illustrious crystal, blissfully ignorant of the prodigy that screamed for his head. By the time Hinata touched the ground he was rocking back and forth in his prone position, saying, "Ooh, there's an internal clock in here…" He analyzed the presumed counter of time before changing his mind. "Nah, must be the temperature; too many zeros. Next!"

--

The faux doctor was working hard these days. Between dealing with his seemingly generous benefactor, looming deadlines, and his own personal research, the time simply whittled itself away without his knowledge. On more than one occasion he sincerely desired that sleep, a considerable waste of time, was not crucial to human performance. However, being summoned by the big man up top precipitated that he pry himself away from his work and attend despite all contradicting wishes.

Upon entry, he found his boss already anticipating his arrival. The shadowy leader stared at the demented surgeon with a benign smile. "Doctor," the man greeted, "How are you feeling today? Well, I hope…"

"Yep," he picked his ear, noting that another member of the underground organization stood silently in the corner. "You called?"

He chuckled. "Straight to the point; such an admirable trait. How are you progressing with your latest experiment?"

"Uh… which one?" He always had several things going on at any given point.

"The project consisting of the corpses retrieved from the catacombs."

"Ah," the man recalled the bodies of Scythe and Nina procured from Orochimaru's rogue army several years ago. "The big guy and the medic girl. Yeah, progress sucks on that one."

"How so?"

"Well, the big guy's musculature is mostly healed thanks to the girl's nervous system and I had to replace his eyes with hers, but the body's barely hanging together. It's nowhere near combat efficient."

"What about those…" the unknown mastermind paused to remember the correct words, "'Organic strings' you claimed to need?"

"Still no headway there. I've got a few prototypes ready for testing, but they don't look promising. Honestly, I think this project is a lost cause."

The calm leader chuckled lightly at the doctor's assumptions. "Sten has informed me of an adequate source of these materials that you require. We cannot legally obtain said source as of yet, but I have a feeling it shall become available to our corporation in the near future."

"Really?" the tone of voice sounded as if he couldn't care less, "When?"

"I cannot say, but within the coming weeks I would presume."

"Alright," the demented surgeon nodded before his demeanor betrayed his inherent boredom. "Was there anything else? I'd like to get back to work."

"The… subject of your experiment shall require active thought, correct?"

"Huh?" The wording was too obscure.

"A mind is still required for the subject, correct?"

"Oh, a working brain? Is that what you mean?"

The shadowy head of the organization merely nodded.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one. I haven't worked on brain alterations since the joint project on Mosh-mosh with Orochimaru. Even then, I had had help from that guy. Why do you ask?"

"I am pleased to inform you that we are in possession of a perfectly functional specimen that will most assuredly solve your issues." He said all this with a pleasing smile. "There is a brain residing in cold storage underneath the Gene Freaks' chamber; you have full authorization to use it."

"Uh… thanks… can I go now?"

"Yes, doctor."

The faux man of medicine casually made his way out of the cozy yet dark room to procure said organ, leaving the mastermind alone with the other silent member of the unknown corporation. "Phantos," the leader addressed the man in the illustriously pale visage that hugged the contours of his face, "Sten also informed me that Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga have recently become suspicious of Danzo. Those two have built up a reputation that consists of the ability to locate well-concealed dwellings, so while our contract with Danzo does not dictate our assistance with his forces, it is within our best interests to do so. Should the Uzumaki and the Hyuuga ever do some digging within the ROOT organization's compound, they are all but certain to locate the entrance to our corporation's complex. Please keep those two distracted utilizing your abilities."

The masked specter known only as Phantos gave the barest of nods before proceeding out of the room; he had done well to prepare for such a day should the moment ever come about.

--

The next evening Anko stumbled into her apartment dead tired. Despite the information she finally indulged to Tsunade, she still had to hopelessly search out the source of that massive chakra spike. She was exhausted and mentally complained about being involved in a wild goose chase but figured it was merely karma coming full circle due to withholding her sole encounter with Curse. "_Course, she could'a thrown me in jail and thrown away the key if she wanted,_" she surmised, recalling the controlled outburst from the Hokage directed towards her.

She wobbled through her small living room on her way to bed; sleep was the only thing on her mind at the moment. Her eyes spared a brief glance to the table on which Curse sat those few years ago and she clearly remembered his first and only visit. "_It's like he never really left,_" her tired mind thought, "_I even remember how he sat cross-legged… yeah, kinda like that…_" Her head swung in a double take and her eyes blinked hard to confirm what she was seeing. "It's you!"

"Yo," Naruto replied from behind his distinct mask, crimson mane of false hair flowing down his back. "Been a while."

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted while reaching into her pouch for a knife. Her hand stopped and she froze when cold steel grasped her offending wrist and fingers of spiked metal pressed against a rather… private area. "Oh God," she gasped as the claws sent shivers up her body, "You're here to kill me…"

"Nah," the blonde replied, "You got guts. You're exactly what this village needs."

"What do you mean?" she responded with mild horror while slowly turning to find the culprit holding her at bay. It was Konoha's infamous Ghost. "What's she doing?"

"Did you know females can be castrated, too?" the masked female stated innocently, "I've always wondered how it worked, but I'm not really good at these kinds of things…"

"Like I said," the Uzumaki continued without skipping a beat, "You're rather valuable at this point. My sources picked up your confession about me to the Hokage." Truthfully, he heard it from one of Hinata's many hidden microphones. "And you did it with the knowledge that I would take your life if you did. But now that I know you can disregard your own life for the greater good…" he unearthed a decently filled folder from his jacket and placed it on the tabletop before his lap, "You can be of use in ways no one else can."

Her eyes narrowed despite her uncomfortable status. "Explain."

"On a recent mission to rendezvous with a spy working under Orochimaru…" He paused with a grin, noting the woman's attention spike at the mere mention of her former teacher's name. "It was discovered that Sai, a member of the ROOT organization, had been instructed by Danzo to hand over the identities of Konoha's ANBU forces."

"What? Why?"

"Apparently this was a diversionary tactic so Sai could gain the man's trust and get close enough to Sasuke Uchiha to assassinate him."

"Does the Hokage know about this?" She was surprisingly calm in the face of female castration.

"Yes."

Her brow furrowed in suspicion. "How…? Did you tell her?"

"No," he shook his head and aimed a casual finger at Shia. "My partner followed team seven to perform reconnaissance on that mission; anything regarding Orochimaru is of concern to us. She witnessed these facts firsthand." That was partially the truth; in acknowledging the younger girl as a companion rather that a subordinate the blonde hoped to abolish any doubts about a potential partner that the snake mistress may have discerned.

"If the Hokage already knows about this, then why tell me? What can I do?"

"Danzo also had a man trailing team seven. His assignment was to observe the group and, should he detect any threats to the village, eliminate them."

"Eliminate?"

"Yes," he nodded, ready to embellish the truth a bit to accomplish his underlying goal, "More specifically, if Naruto Uzumaki fell into enemy hands Danzo's man was to kill him."

"Naruto Uzumaki?" she repeated, "Why him?"

"I think that's obvious," he made sure the woman didn't openly say it; Shia still knew nothing of the fox. "If Orochimaru was able to harness the power inside that boy, Konoha would be destroyed."

"Well… that kinda… makes sense," she stated hesitantly, knowing that was probably not an answer the genius wanted.

"And I agree; it's logical. However, the fourth Hokage would never push for the death of a fellow ninja without at least trying to rescue them. Feuding aside, Danzo knows this- he's fully aware of the fact that his orders are tantamount to treason. And if he is willing to commit treason on this level, there's a high possibility that he would commit far worse crimes."

"Um… I guess…" she concurred, "But what does all this have to do with me?"

"You…" he aimed a finger at her with a smirk, "Are in the unique position to act as a middleman. As long as Danzo has his little ROOT organization he can perform illegal operations within Konoha without any solid evidence to prove his guilt. There is no legal way for the Hokage to unveil his plans, even is she does hold supreme authority over him. She simply doesn't know where to look or act to begin with. Now," he shuffled his legs out from under his body and stood to his feet, "I don't have that problem. I operate outside the Hokage's jurisdiction and laws, so I can do anything without immediate repercussions. Any evidence the Hokage needs but can't obtain herself, I can. And since I now know you value the village over your life, I'm offering you to be the liaison between me and the village."

"You're what?!" she yelped in surprise, wincing as her hips pushed against the Ghost's steady embroidered steel claws.

"I'll leave illegally obtained evidence of Danzo's secret operations in your possession, which will then become legal simply because it's lying around your house. How's that sound?"

She said nothing for a moment. "I… uh…"

"A deal, then," Curse concluded with a wide smile, "Remember, this time you really are going to say nothing about my visits. If I'm caught, who's going to clean up this village?"

"I… yeah… sure…" She nodded as Shia cautiously freed her and joined the blonde's side before the open window. "Wait!" Anko called before the duo leapt into the night, "What was that chakra spike yesterday?"

"Nothing to worry about," the teen replied, "It's just a lotta chakra with nowhere to go. It's not a threat unless Danzo gets hold of it."

"And what about you?!" she demanded, "How can I trust you?! I don't even know who you are!"

Once again, the boy smiled at her. "You have no idea how close this village came to falling when Orochimaru attacked. I've kept you safe for years. Trust me…" And with that, Naruto and Shia melted into the moonlight shadows.

--

Shia was on cloud nine as she sailed through the air next to her crush. "_Hehe!_" she giggled inwardly, "_He called me his partner! Not his subordinate, but his partner! This is so great!_"

"_You know he's only trying to divert attention away from Silence, right?_" Aiya overwhelmed her mind to speak, but nothing more.

The Ghost's face went sullen behind her pale white and green mask. "_I know, but still… it's nice to hear._" She attempted to reset her cheery disposition and 'heard' something odd from the second personality.

"_Yeah. Must be nice to be treated like an equal when you know you're not._" For whatever reason, the alter ego didn't express her thoughts in a contemptible way; in fact, it sounded rather… humble.

Shia frowned at these inherent emotions; she couldn't help but feel that her alternate mindset's opinion of the blonde was changing.

--

As the blonde paid his second visit to the Mitarashi, Hinata spent her evening deciphering how to locate the ROOT compound. Sure, she had been aware of the unofficial ninjas' presence in the tunnels for years, but they never presented a real threat. But now, with the knowledge that Danzo himself signed off on the execution of her beloved Naruto, Silence knew she had to take him down. "_If it was an isolated incident I'd understand,_" she analyzed, "_But he instructed Sai to hand over the ANBU identities. That's treason, no two ways about it. But the better question is 'why'? Why would he do that? What would he have to gain from exposing Konoha's special forces?_"

She stopped at a corner of two intersecting hallways with her bail of wire in tow, Byakugan scouting the immediate area. Satisfied, she secured the metal strand to the wall and it melded in perfectly between the shadows. This portion of the extensive hive wasn't on her or Curse's collective map and she didn't intend to scour the untold miles of catacombs for a single door to the ROOT complex. If Garaza could hear troop deployments coming from a general area, that would narrow the search down significantly.

When the tap was concealed the Hyuuga moved around the corner and continued down the dim passage. "_Supposedly, the ANBU is an offshoot of the ROOT program. So if the ANBU is eliminated by some means that would allow Danzo's forces to pick up the slack. Is that what he's planning?_" she mused, "_The slaughter of the ANBU? That's the only thing that makes sense to me, except why would he do that? I know he once competed for the position of Hokage, so what would he have to gain from killing his own village's shinobi?_"

As the blue-haired genius charged down the abandoned tunnel, she couldn't help but wonder how Danzo would pull off such a feat if his personal army was meant to take over in the murdered ninjas' place. That inquiry was, of course, only valid if her assumptions were correct. "_He handed those documents to Orochimaru, so one would assume that traitor would do it. But assuming is never a good thing, so how else would he do it if that's not true?_"

--

The next morning rolled by uneventfully… save the extreme tension exuded by a select few ninja. After hearing what Anko had to say, Tsunade assembled a handful of her most trusted shinobi, namely the Mitarashi, Kakashi, Yamato, and even Kurenai. The Hatake had briefly mentioned that the Yuhi once harbored similar concerns of her own student, so the Hokage summoned her as well to gleen information or, failing that, at least hear a fresh perspective.

"I assume you know why I called you four here, correct?" the blonde Sannin addressed with extreme seriousness lining her tone. She received a quartet of nods and continued. "Anko, tell them what you told me."

"Yes ma'am," the snake mistress obeyed and faced her comrades. "There's a man who calls himself Curse within Konoha…" She then rattled off a basic description which was ultimately arbitrary; outward appearance was a simple task to alter for any ninja worth his salt and if the unknown individual's actions spoke anything of his skill, then physical facades meant nothing. "What's more is that I think he's not alone. He… uh… caught me last night going home from patrol…" She embellished the truth; Curse wouldn't be happy if he was captured at her apartment.

"He what?!" Tsunade interrupted while the others betrayed their surprise via facial features. "Did he attack you?!"

"What? No!" she swiftly struck that notion aside, "His partner- the Ghost- detained me so he could talk…"

"The Ghost is his partner?" Kurenai interjected. "_I can't believe it…_"

"That's what he said," the snake wielder continued as she produced the folder given to her by the prodigy and slapped it down on the Hokage's desk. "He gave me this, too. It's a copy of the mission made by team seven to intercept the spy under Orochimaru," she eyed Kakashi and Yamato, "Along with a special order given by Danzo."

"I already know about Sai handing over the ANBU files," Tsunade interrupted without raising her eyes from the unraveled document before her. Her statement warranted a flinch from the Yuhi; she was not quite as privy to most of this information as the others.

"That's not it," Anko corrected, prompting the blonde woman to glance at her with surprised concern. "There's a copy of an order given to a ROOT agent in the back. Apparently the Ghost killed this man and stole his orders…"

"It's an order to kill Naruto!" she yelped, "What the hell is that bastard thinking?!"

"Not quite," the Mitarashi elaborated, "It's an order to kill him only if Orochimaru captured him so that old traitor couldn't use the fox's power against us. Curse believes Danzo isn't entirely incorrect in this line of thinking, but Danzo knows you would never approve of this."

"Damn right!" the aging medic put a splintered dent in her desk, "Konoha does _not_ kill one of its own without trying to rescue them first!"

Yamato broke his silence to add his two cents. "That order is treason; wouldn't it be enough to convict Danzo?"

"This is just a copy," Tsunade stated while tapping the parchment, "And Danzo's signature would need to be here."

"What are those markings there, then?" Kurenai inquired, pointing out the scratches at the end of the edict.

"Even if that's a signature I can't read it. Looks like this 'Curse' scratched it out for some reason. But why would he do that?"

"I think… I might know…" Anko brought herself back into the conversation, "From what Curse told me, I… think he believes this is the tip of the iceberg. He might want to unravel all of Danzo's operations before providing conclusive evidence to us."

"That still doesn't explain things," the Yuhi reiterated the final issue, "Why is Curse doing this at all? What does he have to gain from all this?"

Anko paused for a moment to consider this, not realizing that all eyes were glued to her. "To protect the village," she finally answered with no small degree of certainty before delving into her unhappy memories to inform those present of the powerful army under Takaimi's command. After clarifying the bygone threat, she then recollected how Curse produced evidence of eliminating said danger to push home the point that maybe the genius wasn't the one they should be questioning.

"That's good and all," Kakashi glanced at her with a lone lackadaisical eye when she finished her monologue, "But what do we do from here? I don't think blindly following someone who conceals his identity is such a good idea."

"I agree with Kakashi on this one," Tsunade nodded to said jonin, "But this 'Curse' hasn't openly made himself a threat. We'll take this one slow; here's our plan of action…"

The blonde Hokage's orders induced mixed reactions. Tsunade's feelings, along with Kakashi and Yamato's, were those of caution; that was understandable though- after all, it was her job to act in the best interests of the village. Anko didn't honestly agree with her leader; she had this indescribable instinct that dictated the prodigy was someone trustworthy even if his methods were on the shady side. Kurenai was the odd one out- she didn't know what to think. Perhaps it was best if she merely went on her daily routines without getting involved in what would assuredly be something complicated and perilous, but now that she knew, could she possibly ignore this with a clear conscience?

As the quintuplet of ninjas argued over their next course of action, Jiraiya leaned outside the window in his own discreet manner; he actually wanted to conceal his presence from those inside this time. Listening to their bickering, he nodded with a sagely grin plastered on his face.

"Well, 'Curse'," he chuckled at the nickname, "Let's see how you handle this one."

--

During the meeting of the select ninjas with Tsunade, Naruto took that time to oversleep; it was his day off and he was going to use it wisely. When his eyes creaked open to blink sleep away, he awoke to yet another scene of a half-naked Shia sleeping on top of him. "_Good lord, this again?!_"

After berating her for going behind his back and her all but brushing off the lecture, the blonde decided to search for something to do in Konoha. He invited the disturbed girl to come along but she surprisingly declined, claiming that Garaza had requested her assistance in spreading the blood user's web of reconnaissance wires in the catacombs. "_Oh well,_" he shrugged, "_It'll help in finding the ROOT compound quicker._"

So he wandered the village, basking in the warm sunlight as he strode through the streets. He came upon Sakura departing from the library and, per idiot Uzumaki regulations, asked her out on a date. She firmly declined but claimed he could pay for lunch anyway, a strange demand since that was the definition of a date, and he flashed his false grin until Sai showed up and requested that he tag along. Naruto complained about it outwardly to contradict the Haruno's acceptance of the emotionless boy's presence, but his mind knew this would be a good chance to analyze the boy's mannerisms and potentially decipher training techniques employed to invoke such actions. "_If I can figure out how he ticks then chances are the rest of the ROOT members went through similar training. And I might be able to find a flaw in it…_"

As the trio started towards- where else- Ichiraku's ramen stand, the blonde's eye caught a glimpse of a familiar face in passing. His head immediately swiveled to locate the friendly acquaintance and he waved while shouting, "Hey, Hinata! Over here!" He resisted the urge to chuckle when she jumped and nervously glanced around until she found him, knowing full well that it was all an act. "You wanna get some lunch?" he asked with a bright smile when she finally approached.

She utilized her chakra to force extra blood into her cheeks and she started to squirm in her public façade's usual way. "Y-yes," she stuttered, wanting to clock her blonde friend for making her go through all these annoying steps, "I-I would like that."

"Alright!" he cheered, "The more the merrier! Oh, this is Sai," he introduced his pale teammate, hoping that the ROOT member wouldn't insult her in a terrible attempt at friendliness. He noted the recognition of the name in the opposing genius's eyes and instantly knew she was thinking exactly what he was regarding the subtle 'interrogation' of the ROOT organization's training techniques.

Sakura observed this scene go down with mild shock apparent in her eyes. "_Is he… finally noticing her? I mean, he just invited her for lunch…_" She shook her head with an inward smirk. "_Nah, couldn't be. He'd invite anyone he sees as a friend._" Continuing on the short path to the destination, she frowned slightly when she realized that the fact Naruto saw Hinata as a friend unnerved her a bit. "_I mean, he categorizes anyone that talks to him as a friend. He still tries to ask me out even though he sees me as a friend. Is it possible that he… no longer sees me like he used to? Could he be seeing Hinata… as he once saw me?_" Her normally cheerful eyes darkened at this internal monologue. "_I shouldn't care about this but… why does it bother me?_"

Ten minutes later the foursome was seated at the target stand and Naruto was openly regretting the damage about to be done to his wallet. Sakura sat to the blonde's left while Sai, oblivious to the concept of a crush, sat to his right, leaving Hinata the odd one out. The Hyuuga herself was mildly disappointed but knew what her friend was planning, so in truth her position was quite advantageous.

As the group ate, the Uzumaki spared small glances at Sai as the boy performed the necessary movements to consume the noodles. He knew it caught the teen's attention, so he ended the subtle spying long enough for the pale-eyed girl to pick up the slack on the other side. The blonde and his female companion continued this little game of visual tag, determining how Sai moved until Naruto's wallet ran dry on his eighth bowl. "Aw, man," he whined, making a real show of how broke he was, "I'm outta cash. Guess that'll be it for today…"

The quartet parted ways soon after, each taking their respective paths. When the male prodigy noted that the others were out of sight, he caught up with Hinata and promptly locked arms with her. "Hello, Hinata," he cooed quietly in her ear upon approach.

She smiled and allowed an honest blush to grace her cheeks. "H-hello, Naruto," she stumbled over her words to thwart anyone listening from suspecting anything out of the ordinary aside from the fact that this shy girl was finally walking side by side and even holding hands with the object of her affections.

"You notice anything?" he whispered when he was sure no one was really listening.

"Yeah," she answered in an equally hushed tone, "All his movements are mechanical. Probably a result of his training."

"I thought so too; the program is meant to erase emotions…"

"…So movements aren't as fluid because they're taught to think logically rather than act on instinct," she finished the boy's statement.

"Exactely," he smiled at her, "You know, this is why I like you. We think alike."

She giggled. "I guess we do."

The blonde couldn't help but stare into the girl's pale eyes as she spoke; there was something ephemeral about them that captured his gaze. He had never truly noticed how mesmerizing they were until now, seeing that they were so close together in clear daylight. Likewise, the genius girl couldn't help but return the gesture. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours for her; those brilliant azure whirlpools for irises rendered time meaningless to her wonder.

But all good things had to come to an end. The invisible thread connecting their eyes snapped and they simultaneously looked away. Naruto, not content to end it there, nudged the girl over to a dark space between two particularly tall buildings on that street and, the instant when no one civilian or otherwise was looking in their direction, pulled her into the concealed space, careful to maneuver behind a large air conditioning unit to truly hide them from the eyes of anyone on the quiet road. He grasped her softly by the waist and stood less than a foot away from her, staring intently into her face and wishing above all else that they didn't have to conceal their true natures from the village.

Hinata returned the sentiment by wrapping her arms around the blonde's torso and pulling herself in closer, enveloping the two into a gentle embrace. She was about his height, so she rested her head against his shoulder and he did the same. The heat generated between the two warmed her beyond a blush and invoked the question within her mind as to what suddenly possessed them to do this, but she disregarded the mental inquiry and allowed herself to be engulfed by the moment. After an eternity of minutes she eventually spoke softly into his ear, "You coming by tonight or do you have work to do?"

The blonde chuckled lightly. "I'll be there. There's a lot to do, right?" Silently, he remembered that he had to tell her about the fox but decided against it in favor of savoring the moment to its fullest. More unmarked time passed and he moved his hands away, signaling that he had to go. The Hyuuga gave a final squeeze then released him as well, stepping back with a tender smile aimed at the teen. "I'll see you tonight then," Naruto stated quietly as he ran his fingers through the girl's hair, revealed her forehead, then leaned in and kissed the exposed pale moonlight skin. With a foxy grin, he launched himself from the alley to the canopies of stone and steel above and scurried away, his heart ready to explode from the pressure exerted upon it by his intimate actions.

Hinata wasn't much better. She could have sworn she felt steam rising from her ears and gulped to swallow the heart in her throat; she had just received a kiss from the boy she liked and enjoyed it to the point of irrational thought. Swaying in the shadowed hideaway, she eventually snapped out of her trance and followed in Curse's footsteps by leaving for her own respective destination via rooftop. "_There's a chance!_" she cheered inwardly, allowing one of the brightest smiles she had ever experienced in her life to curl onto her lips, "_There's really a chance!_"

* * *

Okay, okay, so it's probably not the best fluff around, but it's easily the best I've ever written. I'm man enough to admit that writing all this romance stuff is ridiculously hard for me, so this is effin' awesome in my opinion.

Also, I've gotten a few reviews demanding Naruto and Hinata's secret be revealed. My simple answer: my story, not yours. I don't like pulling the whole "I'm the author, dammit!" line (because authors who do this come off as assholes), but I guess it's necessary at some point, right? Just sit back and enjoy it as is. There's still plenty of time for that kinda stuff.

Besides, where would the fun be if everyone knew it was them? I dunno about you guys, but I revel in the suspense. Haha!

And now, because I have to:

Will Anko subconsciously fall in love with Curse?!

Will Sakura unconsciously fall in love with Naruto?!

And will Jiraiya ever 'love' a conscious lady?!


	28. Exploring for Enemies and Emotions!

Ah, a little shorter (not quite in the 6.000 plus word range), but I felt anything more would break the mood of this chapter.

Well, go on, read. That's what you came for, no?

* * *

As promised, Naruto showed up at Silence's lair fully prepared to engage any perceived threats… were there any to be found. Apparently, Garaza's wires still did not encompass the majority of the massive subterranean hive and, thusly, she could not pinpoint any one location in which the ROOT hostiles emerged. To be certain, the blood user could hear them loud and clear but there were many contacts spread out too far to give a fair estimate regarding their origins.

So the blonde did the next best thing; wait. Hinata had to perform repairs on Shiori and Ichirou- some kind of sudden breakdown in their internal mechanics that Curse didn't understand. The blue-haired genius's preoccupation left the male teen hanging around and taking things easy on her well-worn couch while talking to his whacked out friend, Nuren.

"Dude," the addict said with glazed over emerald eyes, "Silence's got tons of cool stuff down here…"

"Like what?" he replied with a grin; it was hilarious talking to this guy if only to witness his reactions.

"Like that generator, man…"

The younger teen didn't respond for a moment. "Which one? There's gotta be at least a few dozen down here."

"The plague, man, the plague."

"_The what?!_" Naruto wondered, curious as to how the druggie associated a machine with a disease. "What are you talking about?"

"That glowing thing she brought back."

"Oh, the chakra crystal?"

"Yeah, yeah, the plague," the stoned boy reiterated. He reached into his pocket, produced a kind of fingernail-sized film, and then promptly swallowed the unknown substance; breathing a sigh of relief the instant he consumed it.

"What'd you just take?"

"Some smack. Painkiller."

"Ah… any good?"

"Oh yeah!" High Life exclaimed as he leaned back far enough for the top of his skull to crash to the ground. "Anyway, the plague's strong."

"You know how old it is by any chance?"

"Nah, thought I did though. I found a monitor for its internal temperature and thought it was a clock."

"Really?" he chuckled, "How hot is it?"

"Dunno. Can't count that high… what number is nine digits long?"

"W-what?!" the Uzumaki sputtered, "It's in the millions?!"

"That's it," the prone addict aimed a triumphant finger at the blonde without even looking up. "It's in the hundred thousands…"

"B-but… I thought you said it had nine digits…"

"First three numbers are zero. Dunno what the numbers next to it meant, though…"

"Hey Naruto," the Hyuuga girl's head poked through the clear doorway and her pale eyes locked onto said teen, "I'm finished with the repairs. We can head out now."

"Sounds like a plan," the blonde grunted as he stood and nodded to his friend who now appeared disconnected from reality and fascinated with the blank ceiling. "See ya later Nuren…"

As the outcast prodigy exited the room, the druggie continued to project his faraway gaze upwards. He heard the hatch connecting the small complex to the significantly larger tunnels open then shut with mighty clangs before grinning. "Hey, look at all the pretty colors." With that, his arm plopped itself down on his personal device and the attached fingers pivoted a dial, eventually producing a shriek that was soon followed by an unusual noise that sounded ephemeral and practically commanded a distant serenity.

"So that's what's behind that weird interference…"

--

A blinding flash of brilliant light tumbled into existence then dimmed to nothing in seconds, the eternal colors of illumination shining as bright as a thousand suns before dying away. In its wake, two individuals emerged from the darkness in the new location that was far beneath the streets of Konoha.

"_How odd,_" the sickly man in the business suit adjusted his tie upon arrival while keeping his musings to himself. "_It felt as if there were some manner of… interference… during the jump._" He considered informing his leader of this concern before brushing it away. "_There are many frequencies of all kinds being… utilized. Statistically, it is understandable for this to happen at least once._" Striking his inner monologue from his mind, he mulled over the 'trip' from which he just returned- upon orders from his leader, he escorted said mastermind to the village hidden in the Rain to meet with the aloof individual who masqueraded as the true head of the Akatsuki organization. The pale man with the lisp, despite having been one of the two middlemen between the respective groups, still didn't understand those strange halos in Pain's eyes… but then again, he didn't even fully grasp the existence of his boss. "Sir," he began, "Might I… inquire as to why that trip was necessary?"

"Of course," the shady character replied with his usual politeness, "It is always good manners to pay respect to fellow associates, especially when you are soon to acquire one of their assets as your own."

"I see," he nodded with the sneaking suspicion that said resource was one of the pair of Akatsuki members rumored to be immortal. Both men's names came up during the brief conversation with Pain. "Shall I escort the… doctor… to acquire him?"

"No, no" the man chuckled, "That won't be necessary as of yet. He and his partner are already within this country; it is merely a matter of time before Konoha tracks him and his partner down and eliminates them. Our efforts are not required to nullify them and the particular advantage we seek can easily be replicated had we but a sample. Until then, we are to stay our hand."

An awkward pause passed. "I understand. And what of… Sasuke Uchiha? Orochimaru's… regeneration time is coming to a close."

"I have informed Sten of the necessity of keeping the young Uchiha alive- the contract requesting his delivery is still valid. Sten is keeping a close eye on the boy to ensure Orochimaru does not act prematurely."

"I see…" The next few months would be… interesting, to say the very least.

--

As the night deepened, Homura and Koharu privately convened in one of the many protected chambers to discuss their roles in Danzo's plan. Both felt jilted in the conspiracy, as the old war hawk along with their mutual associate seemed to be running the show without them. That act alone threatened their ideals of what should transpire within the inner workings of the village, but perhaps being underestimated in this regard could prove to be useful…

"Danzo's clearly left us behind," Homura stated dully; the aged man was obviously disgruntled over his downplayed position. "I seriously doubt he'll uphold his end of the bargain and share the power once he has obtained it."

"It is not Danzo that worries me," Koharu answered, "So far, our unnamed associate has yet to reveal his motives- as far as we know, he could be aiming to destroy the village."

"Then why help us wrest control from Tsunade in the first place?" he hissed, "Why go through so much trouble to set up a leader if his goal is to destroy Konoha?"

"Well, to begin, the plan involves undermining Tsunade's authority. That means those loyal to her who guarantee her leadership need to be eliminated or otherwise removed before she can be toppled, and what better way to destroy a village than to pit its own strengths against itself?"

"But how can he eliminate them? From what we've seen, he possesses little manpower. Plus, he couldn't possibly dispose of an entire village of shinobi- that would undermine all our efforts…"

"I don't believe that to be the case. You remember the contract, correct?" Receiving a nod in reply, she continued. "It stated that only those essential to Tsunade's authority were to be removed- that means the ANBU forces…"

"Save for those wise enough to pledge their allegiance to the village rather than that foolish woman," the male elder corrected, referring to the handful of ANBU ninja whose loyalties lied with the aged advisors over the Hokage.

"Correct. If we merely withdraw those select few before the ANBU are completely eliminated, then we shall have some say, however small, in how this village should function."

Homura considered this for a long moment before speaking his mind again. "And what if our associate does not wish to destroy the village?"

Koharu frowned. "Explain."

"What if he plans to control the village himself? What if he plans to use us as his puppets or, worse yet, dispose of us once the larger threat is out of the way?"

She mulled this notion over for a minute. "Perhaps his method of destroying the ANBU will leave whatever forces he possesses too weak to deal with Danzo's ROOT forces?"

"I doubt that is the case. Why would our associate sign a contract promising to eliminate those in our way if his own forces would be fought to a standstill? In order to complete his own agenda he will require a sizeable army to stand a chance against the veterans of this village- it doesn't make sense that he would send his own men into a massacre without a fallback plan."

"True, true… but there is another factor we have not considered."

"And that is?"

"The strongmen. They have become rather active as of late, if the reports from the ROOT organization are any indication. Like our associate, we know nothing of their numbers, strengths, or motives. They are a completely unknown factor."

The male elder stewed in this new data, completely unaware that these so-called 'strongmen' consisted of only two people- certain shunned teenagers of the Leaf village that were actually the greatest minds in current existence. "An unknown factor, is it? Perhaps we should recall our forces and await them to act rather than rush in with such little information?"

"I think that would be wise, but we must be prepared for all outcomes. We should plan for the worst case scenario and ready ourselves for it should it come to pass."

"And that would be…?"

The elderly woman looked her old teammate dead in the eye and stated, "That everyone, the strongmen included, is an enemy. We must prepare to destroy them if they uncover this conspiracy."

Homura nodded in compliance and the treacherous advisors dispersed.

--

The hours passed and the aforementioned duo of prodigies had made little to no headway in locating the ROOT organization's compound. They had encountered a handful of teams that appeared to be on high alert but decided that, for tonight, indiscretion was the better part of valor. If they engaged the hostiles, more could show up and eventually overrun the intelligent pair; even they had their limits when it came to combat.

Instead, they laid several miles of wire along the dim walls that echoed in endless webs, hoping that at least Garaza could give them a fair estimate of the location to the enemies' headquarters. They would have to return to Silence's lair to ascertain whether or not this tactic was successful, so they wanted to save a trip by laying all the available strands of reconnaissance metal that they currently possessed. Curse watched Hinata's back while she flawlessly hid the useful tools of espionage in the corners and shadows; he would be damned if anyone got the drop on them.

But Naruto was good at multitasking. While the blue-haired teen performed the necessary operations, his mind swam with conflicting feelings and emotions. "_She's so beautiful, even when she's masked,_" he thought, experiencing a strange tingling that was decidedly foreign within his chest. He might have been a genius, but matters of the heart were another matter entirely.

The blonde had grown up with an acute awareness of the events surrounding him. When he came into initial contact with the fox, that encounter only spurned him to pay more attention to his environment. It was during these tumultuous years that he gradually came to understand that he was different from everyone else- he would learn from others' mistakes whereas they would not, he could observe training and read books of extreme difficulty and retain almost all the given information, and he even learned to analyze the situation for danger. In short, everything he experienced firsthand he could eventually replicate and comprehend.

But he had never experienced love on any level whatsoever. The closest he could get was merely being a passive observer, and even then the mood usually died because of his presence. He was familiar enough with the sentiment- he felt intense amounts of gratitude to those who accepted him as is while fully aware of the fox housed within his gut, but the intense feelings of affection that could only come from a parent or a lover escaped him entirely. He simply had no way to practice it, leaving him a combat genius who was socially retarded when it came to something as simple as liking someone in a special way.

He attempted to understand the strong fondness he felt towards the Hyuuga girl to little avail. "_I… I think this is what affection is… but I don't know. I know Hinata feels strongly towards me, but she's not the only one…_" His sharp mind recalled Shia and her various acts that could only be interpreted one way. "_I'm so lost. What the hell do I do? What should I feel?_"

Even worse was the fact that he couldn't hide his darkest secret from anyone he would have a relationship with. "_If… if I decide to go for it, I've gotta tell her about the fox. I can't lie about it, not that. It's too big to keep a secret for long. But what if… what if she becomes afraid of me if I tell her? Would that kill anything we could have together? What if she thinks I actually am the fox like most of the village? What would I do if I lost her like that?_"

Unbeknownst to him, his doubts also lingered in the mind of Silence. As Hinata worked on placement of the reconnaissance wires, her own thoughts provided a distraction to the monotonous motions. She clearly recalled the intimate moment between her and the blonde earlier in the day that concluded with a kiss planted on her forehead, and that only fueled the chaotic fires within her. "_That was… that was really nice; I liked it. I wish there could be more, but that… that wouldn't be fair to Shia…_"

Unlike most girls her age, the Hyuuga genius was considerate of these emotions when it came to others. She had grown up in a cold home whose sole source of warmth generally came from hostility within the fractured family. The last time she had felt so content was when her mother was alive, but that was so long ago that it was merely a distant memory by now. She clearly remembered the days where all she had to look forward to was the work she could only perform in secret. "_If I had to go through all that again, I don't think I could. Not anymore…_"

That exact reason was why she was more attuned to the affection within Shia; she knew what it was like to be truly alone and clinging to a sole thread that separated one from sanity and madness. Hinata was lucky; she managed to distract herself long enough with her secret projects until something better came alone- Naruto. Every time she thought of the blonde, her heart beat faster and her mind soared; she could no longer fathom a life of solitude now that he was there. She was intelligent enough to realize that she had a truly serious crush on the boy, but the fact that he was at least there for her was what did if for her.

With that in mind, the Hyuuga knew that while her happiness was on the line, Shia was right there alongside her. Ever since the disturbed girl wandered under her wing three years ago, Silence had gotten to know her and how similar they were. Both were raised in a heartless environment with only one thing to keep them sane- and Shia didn't even fit that bill completely, seeing as how a split personality developed simply to help her cope. Hinata was fully aware that the auburn-haired girl held something special in her heart for the blonde; she honestly loved him. "_I can't just take that away from her,_" the blue-haired prodigy thought, "_That would devastate Shia. I just can't take Naruto from her… not like this…_"

She briefly wondered what life would be like should Naruto's heart lean towards Shia and leave her merely as a friend, and that innocent musing alone hurt deeply. "_It's his choice, I know it is. But… but I don't think I could really enjoy life knowing that we'll never be more than friends. But if he chose me, Shia would be just as hurt. I know we all deserve a little happiness, but is there no way around one of us not achieving it? Is there an alternative I haven't seen yet?_" This particular train of thought dominated her mind; she honestly tried to rationalize things even though deep down she knew painfully well that either her or the younger girl would have to loose the battle for the blonde's heart, and that conflicting notion stabbed at her soul.

"Hey Hinata," the Uzumaki hissed, "Hello? You awake?"

"What?" she asked, forcefully jarred from her internal debate. "What is it?"

"You okay? I called your name like five times…"

"Oh, sorry," she downplayed her inattention while her mind freaked. "_Oh my God, it's getting worse! Why can't I kick this damn habit?!_"

"There's some guys gettin' close to us," Naruto informed her in a hushed whisper, "You almost done?"

"Yeah," she snapped the extended line and buried the remainder of it under the dust that caked the dim wall. "Let's move."

--

An hour later, the Konoha duo finally returned to Silences' expanded lab to check on Garaza's aural espionage. The Nashin informed them that while her newly extended net was indeed useful, it would take at least a day to find out if it made any difference; enemy movements could be affected by the fact that it was the dead of night.

So Hinata and Naruto gave it up for the night and took it easy for a change. The Uzumaki plopped down on the well-worn couch that his blue-haired counterpart somehow obtained and was quickly joined by said genius. The Hyuuga leaned against Curse, causing his heart to skip a beat as Silence's head was gently buried into his thumping chest.

The female prodigy felt the blood rush to her cheeks and reveled in the ensuing warmth; she was comfortable being this close to the blonde. She knew full well that times where they could simply whittle the minutes away while together in this fashion were few and far between, despite their usually intense nature. "_Should I tell him?_" she wondered, "_I mean, he should know how Shia feels by now, so what about me? I'm sure he already knows that too, but for me to say it would mean so much more. But if I do tell him, how would he feel? What would it do to him to know that he has to make a choice between me and Shia? I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him…_"

While the genius girl wracked her brain on what to do, Naruto waged a mental war of his own. "_Now's my chance to tell her about the fox… but what if she rejects me? I don't want that to happen, but I can't keep this from her. I guess,_" he swallowed, "_I guess I'll just have to do it. What better time than now?_" Steeling his nerves, he opened his mouth to speak. "Hey, Hinata?" he quietly addressed the girl in his arms.

"Hm?" she glanced up from her lax position.

"There's something I need to tell you." It took every ounce of his willpower not to stutter.

"What is it?" She knew from the tone of his voice that it was important to him, so she went with her instinct and gave him her undivided attention.

The Uzumaki's jaw lowered to begin his confession about the nine-tailed fox when Nuren stumbled into the chamber and destroyed the moment. "_Every fucking time! Why?!_"

"Yo, Silence," the druggie swayed in place, obviously joyously suffering from whatever he recently ingested, "Made somethin' for ya!"

"What?" she whined, disappointed that the mood was ruined by this guy of all people.

"It's this!" He swung what appeared to be a bulkier version of Yin and Yang in his hands. Like Hinata's weapon, it was a disk with curved blades that awaited release and housed a generator. Evidently, the addict had gotten hold of the Hyuuga's blueprints for the top-like device and copied it while making his own additions- most noticeable, its length. Silence's redesigned weapon was gracefully slim- about three inches thick- but High Life's version was about twice that. He tossed the heavier disc at the girl and she caught it with a scowl.

"Watch it!" she immediately berated him for his unceremonious handling of the new machine. "What if this went off and killed me?!"

He laughed. "No worries, no worries! It's exactly like your design except for its generator and a few conversion connections…"

She paused. "What's the generator?"

"The plague!"

Her delicate features scrunched up at the odd name. "The… what?"

The blonde genius leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "He means the chakra crystal."

"Yeah, that!" Nuren continued unabated, his muddy emerald eyes performing the impossible and glancing in opposite directions despite his face being aimed at the comfortable duo. "Hope you find it useful!" With that, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards out of the room, the next instant followed by a subdued 'ow' and the sounds of him shuffling away.

An awkward silence passed while Naruto resisted the urge to chuckle. "Well," his breathing altered to keep the laughter at bay, "That was nice of him."

"I… guess so…" she agreed apprehensively, turning the device over in her hands to analyze it. Satisfied, she laid it to the side and looked back at the nearby teen and gently smiled. "_He wanted to tell me something,_" she knew, "_And I can tell it's important to him. I… I don't want to rush him. If he really wants to tell me, he'll do it without me asking._" Her pale eyes locked gazes with his as she considered the boy's feelings. "_He already has to deal with me and Shia; I don't want to add to his burden. He'll tell me when he's ready._"

Curse was equally torn. "_Damn it Nuren, you ruined the mood,_" he mentally chastised his stoned friend, "_But if she takes the news badly, then I might want to thank you. I'll… I'll leave it for now. I'm tired; I… I don't want to leave on bad terms if she rejects me._" His demeanor was visibly sullen; it pained him to put off the admittance of the fox to the girl he liked, but he couldn't stand the thought of her forsaking him should she believe him to be the reincarnated form of the fox rather than its prison. His lungs expanded with a deep sigh and he forced a smirk. "I should probably go home; I'm pretty tired."

She nodded and lied against him as she did before. "I probably should too before anyone notices I'm gone."

He put his arms around her and inhaled the air infected by her aroma; it was exceedingly sweet, in his opinion. "We stayed up all night tonight; I think we should rest tomorrow night." Glancing down into her moonlight eyes, he asked, "Is… that okay with you?"

Hinata closed her eyes and smiled as she rubbed her cheek against his jacket. "That's a good idea- we'd better not wear ourselves out."

They sat there for several minutes, neither wanting to break the moment. But soon enough, the blonde prodigy released the girl from his arms and she took the hint to break away from him. She silently escorted him to the hatch and saw him off with a humble smile and a wave before preparing to go home herself.

"_Naruto,_" she thought, "_Please choose what makes you happy… for all our sakes…_"

--

The Uzumaki entered his private chamber in quiet solitude and changed into his god awful neon orange garb before scaling the vertical passage to his apartment. Upon entry into his home, he found it to be dark and empty. "Huh," he muttered, "Shia must be on her nightly run. She's pretty late, though." Noting that the mere memory of the auburn haired girl invoked emotions similar to those he felt while around Hinata, he shook those thoughts from his mind and resigned himself to a shower.

Halfway through that process, he decided to fill the surprisingly spacious bathtub; he felt the need to become immersed in hot water. Thankfully, said oversized bowl of porcelain was remarkably immaculate given his bachelor status. "_I gotta thank Shia for cleaning,_" he remarked inwardly before remembering that he specifically wanted to avoid that train of thought for now. He dunked himself into the warm liquid and allowed the heat and steam to permeate his body as well as his worries.

Untold minutes of absolute serenity passed before he was suddenly jolted by the door sliding open, revealing Shia… in nothing but a towel. Naruto blinked hard several times in disbelief; his brain shut down at the notion that he was no longer in the states of being naked and alone at the same time. Apparently, Shia was every bit as shocked as he was.

"S-s-s-s-s-sorry!" she yelped with a noticeable delay. But before she could move to rush out of the room she began swaying on her feet on the verge of fainting from the sudden shock.

"_Oh hell no,_" Curse thought, panicking at the idea that he had to catch her before her head smashed into the hard tile floor while being simultaneously naked. He struck his embarrassment from his mind when the girl's eyes rolled back into her head and she began tilting to fall…

Only for her head to snap back into place with a hard blink; Aiya now stared at Naruto with what appeared to be mild bewilderment. She was in temporary control now that the primary personality had been forcefully ejected from consciousness, and even the aggressive ego was taken aback by the sight. Her ever widening angled eyes stared intently at the blonde for a few seconds while she said nothing. After a few seconds of not moving a muscle, a single line of blood trickled from her left nostril and even she passed out.

Curse caught the now truly unconscious girl before she hit the ground, cradling her as he cautiously placed her outside the bathroom while taking excruciating care to ignore the fact that the bath towel she wore was splayed open. Without looking, he pulled said covering back over her unmentionables and even went so far as to throw a convenient bed sheet over her.

He then returned to his bath and haphazardly cleansed himself in record time that could be measured in seconds. With great haste, he changed his clothes while in the steamy room before exiting to find Shia huddled under the provided sheet. She directed her gaze away from him with a face-encompassing blush that could shame a fresh tomato.

The Uzumaki's face was also red from embarrassment. "This goes nowhere," he stated with a certain shakiness in his tone, "We will speak of this to no one."

She nodded rapidly with her head half-buried in the covers. "A-agreed."

"You… uh… came to take a shower?"

Another swift nod. "Y-yeah."

"I'll… uh… be… um… somewhere else…"

With that, the auburn-haired girl broke speed records to the bathroom then locked the door with as much gusto as befitting of a ninja. Naruto laughed nervously to himself to downplay the compromising event and prepared some ramen for dinner before hitting the hay. He was tired, and he didn't even care that Shia was still barricading herself in the bathroom. "_Well,_" he mused to himself, "_I've got a balcony if I need to take a leak…_"

After a few minutes of dozing, his sleepy revelry broke when he noticed the disturbed girl approach him, this time with more clothes on than he had ever seen her wear to date. He regarded her with weary eyes and said, "You're really late tonight," in the hopes of putting their embarrassment behind them as quickly as possible.

"I… uh…" she stumbled over her words, recalling the actions that made her return home later than usual. "Had to dodge a few extra ninjas," she lied.

"Any trouble?" He trusted her judgment; she was exceptionally talented at stealth.

She shook her head, trying to withhold the giggle induced by said actions that ultimately lead to this embarrassing situation with the bath.

**--(flashback)--**

As the moon approached the horizon to allow its daytime counterpart space within the heavens, a silent shadow moved along the walls and roofs of Konoha. It halted periodically to analyze the surroundings and, when satisfied, moved on. After many minutes and careful deliberation, the silhouette eventually came upon the prestigious Hyuuga compound and entered as swiftly and quietly as the cool breeze. It moved through the halls alongside the darkness cast by the night, easily bypassing the guards who neglected the fact that their eyes could see everything had they wished to do so.

The figure came upon its target; a sleeping girl conveniently isolated in a spacious yet fairly devoid chamber. The phantom approached the girl with cautious steps and bated breath, leaning over the slumbering human when it was close enough. It slipped its hand into the pack strapped behind its belt, produced a fist-sized carton filled with white powder, and then began applying said substance in a gentle manner as to not awaken the girl. Upon completion, the shadow exited the room and started on its escape route…

Only to come face to face with a certain Hyuuga heiress who had obviously just returned. Hinata instantly yanked the intruder into her nearby room and stared at the interloper with curious wonder. "Shia," Silence spoke in a hushed whisper, "What are you doing here?"

The disturbed girl chuckled nervously as she moved her mismatched mask off her face to reveal a 'you caught me' look carved on her features. "Just having a little fun…?" she answered in question form, evidence that she was up to something.

"Sure you are," the undercover genius stated flatly as she wrestled the empty carton from the Ghost's hands, reading the printed words once the petite box was in her possession. "Who'd you empty this on?"

"Uh…" Shia scratched her cheek with a finger, "Someone who annoys me…?"

Hinata sighed; she was far too tired to deal with this fledging prankster. "Go on," she flicked the captive's forehead with a finger accompanied by grinning lips, "Go get some sleep."

"Right." The disturbed girl smiled with a giggle as she replaced her faded visage and proceeded to exit the compound as silently as she came, leaving no traces of her visit.

The Hyuuga prodigy yawned and glanced at the box in her hand with a quick chuckle before chucking the evidence into the hole that housed the miniature lab underneath her room. "Man, Hanabi," she spoke to no one as she approached her bed, "I don't know what you did to piss her off, but that itching powder's not gonna come off with just one bath…"

**--(end flashback)--**

"Something funny?" the blonde genius inquired, curious as to the reason Shia was giggling like a little girl- despite the fact that she really was one.

"Nothing," she chimed, still unable to honestly look at the teen without blushing from the recent debacle. Deciding that sleep would dull the embarrassment, she climbed into the cot next to Naruto's bed and buried herself under the covers. "_Please, please, please don't let him have seen me naked,_" she prayed to any deity listening. "_It's too embarrassing!_"

"_Why don't you ask him?_" Aiya threw in her two cents, even though her quiet 'voice' carried hints of shame despite her outgoing status.

"_I can't ask him that!!_" she mentally shouted at the troublemaking personality. She could have sworn she heard the alter ego chuckle and continued. "_And you better not try anything while I'm asleep!!_"

"_Alright, alright…_"

"_Promise!_"

"_I promise…_"

"_I mean it!_"

"_I do, too…_"

Shia sighed internally; all she could do was trust the separate mindset for now. She closed her eyes and, soon enough, drifted off to sleep.

"_Of course,_" Aiya thought to herself, her own internal monologue now hidden from the primary personality, "_Promises are meant to be broken…_"

* * *

Yeah, I killed a few trees here by making this chapter so sappy, but that's a significantly large part of this arc. Just go with the flow and you'll be fine.

Alright, coupla' things:

I have already said what pairing will come out on top, so don't ask again. Having said that, Shia's primary role is coming into play in this particular arc. 'Nuff said.

A couple people keep asking how old Shia is. She was nine when initially captured, so add three years. If you think the age is awkward, add ten years to everyone's age and tell me it's still awkward (hint: I'll think you're nuts if you do. Hahah!).

This coming month is chock full of work. I _need_ to cut down on writing time in order to finish my projects. I know I say this a lot (and I say that a lot, too), but don't expect my near- neurotic pace of updates until the second week of August (at the very least).

LOVE AND PIECES!!


	29. Bloody Marys and Bombed Medics!

Yo. Busy, busy, busy...

Enjoy.

* * *

If there were ever a drawback to sleeping, Naruto held the market on it. Possessing a nine-tailed fox demon whose only means of communication resided within unconsciousness wasn't exactly an alluring notion to many, but what could be done about it? "_May as well get this over with…_" Truth be told, he didn't believe it too unbearable; the monster housed in his gut didn't torment him every night. It was only when it really wanted to talk or the Uzumaki faced a sincere life-or-death scenario that these generally unpleasant conversations took place. Tonight, it was the former.

The blonde sloshed through the stagnant waters of his psyche to the familiar gates that held back the overwhelming evil force, stopping short so that the massive claws wouldn't reach him. Gazing into the dark eyes of the entity, he stated, "You don't look too happy. What do you want?"

"**Such insolence,**" it sneered, "**I would very much enjoy feasting on your bones if I were free.**"

"Yeah, well, you're not. Deal with it. Is that all you wanted to say? Throw one or two threats my way then…"

The ground rumbled and the warm fluid rippled outward as the demon laughed. "**Of course not, foolish one. I merely wish to remind you of your own torment as you rest.**"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "My own torment? What the hell do you…"

"**You know full well of what I speak- the BMC girl.**"

"The… what… girl?"

"**Ah, I forgot; you mortals refer to it as the 'Byakugan'.**"

"Hinata?" he blinked, immediately raising his guard, "You touch her, you die."

Once again, the environment shook in response to the evil entity's guffawing. "**And how would you do this? You rely on my power for healing and increasing your reserves. If anything,**" it smirked, "**You would loose control of my powers and kill her yourself.**"

Naruto composed himself, taking deep breaths to calm his flaring temper. He learned long ago that arguing with the fox was futile; responding to its threats and taunts only increased the intensity of its verbal jabs. "You called her the 'BMC' girl. Why? What's 'BMC'?"

The demon's grin died away when it realized its short-lived fun was at an end. "**That is the original name of the bloodline that came to become the Byakugan.**"

"Original name?" He paused, recalling the strange name the fox once assigned to the Uchihas' eyes. "Is that like the Sharingan being called the Shangri-La mutagen?"

"**Precisely.**"

"… And?" he goaded.

"**And what?**" came the haughty reply.

"Why are they called that? What does that mean?"

"**BMC is short for Blind Man's Compensation. When humans with chakra went blind and began developing a sixth sense in place of sight, that was the name assigned that condition.**"

The blonde drank this in and voiced another inquiry. "Then what about this 'Shangri-La mutagen'? How is that related to the Sharingan?"

"**I already told you, foolish boy- it **_**is**_** the Sharingan. Or rather…**" it trailed off for a moment, "**It would be more accurate to say the Sharingan evolved from it, much like the Byakugan evolved from BMC.**"

"But what was it originally? You say the Byakugan evolved from something different, so what was the Shangri-La mutagen? What was its purpose?"

For a while the monstrous beast said nothing, silent as if contemplating. Minutes passed and Curse thought he was being ignored and opened his mouth to speak when he was suddenly interrupted. "**It was a strain created for those with chakra to allow them to… handle… the raw materials for the Omega Project.**"

"_A strain? Raw materials? Omega Project?_" Naruto's mind raced with so many simultaneous questions that he didn't know where to begin. Oddly enough, he realized that the evil force's choice of words was a bit off, so that became his opening inquiry. "Back up- you said 'those with chakra'. Isn't that a given?" After all, every living thing on the planet possessed some amount of the living energy… right?

The demon gave a disconcerting smile in reply. "**That's what you think.**" With that, the monster forced the teen from the mental landscape and watched the outside world through the rousing boy's deep cerulean eyes, grimacing at what it saw.

"_**I don't like her; that split personality girl,**_" it thought upon viewing the outside world through the teen's eyes, "_**She may not be nearly as intelligent as that boy, but that seal her other half created could be disastrous for me. I can only hope she never puts one on him…**_"

--

The Uzumaki frowned as his eyes acclimated to the sudden light, mentally swearing at the bastard fox for giving him far too many questions that he cared to contemplate in his current situation. "_What the hell did he mean?_" he mused as his extremities began accepting commands from his awakening brain. "_The Sharingan and the Shangri-La mutagen… the Byakugan and the BMC… Omega Project… what does it all mean?_" His inner contemplations didn't end there, and that annoyed him to no end. "_Gah, I'm up for two seconds and I'm already feelin' a headache comin' on. This sucks…_" he moved his hand and raised an eyebrow, "_Since when do I own a furry pillow- wait, what?!_" His free hand instinctively flung the covers off his bed, allowing him to peer down at what was pinning his occupied limb- a snoozing Shia. "_At least she's wearing actual clothes this time,_" he thought, blushing at the previous evening's bath incident that ultimately led to the girl's choice of concealing wardrobe.

Now that his mind was firmly focused on the younger girl, he began to think about what she meant to him. "_Sure, I've got Hinata- she's beautiful, sweet, and I'm pretty sure she likes me… but then, so is Shia._" The rational portion of his brain stepped in and he began earnestly categorizing the girls' differences. "_Shia's really cute- she'll be a real looker in a few years- and I know for a fact that she likes me. But what do I feel towards her? I always thought this is what a family felt like, but is that really true? Do I really see like a… sister?_" he concluded, figuring that particular familial relation to be the one he was searching for.

As Naruto dealt with his conflicting emotions, Shia stirred under his arm with consciousness gradually fading into existence. She blinked wearily and took a deep breath, giving the barest of smiles as she recognized the scent before nuzzling against the soft fabric pressed onto her face. Seconds went by and it finally registered in her mind what was going on, and her head snapped up so quickly that it was a wonder her neck didn't break. Auburn eyes wide as could be, she gazed at the blonde within extreme proximity. "Kya!" she yelped as she moved so fast that she put Kakashi to shame, launching herself out of the small bed and clinging to the corner of the room while glued to the ceiling.

Curse couldn't help it- he had the best joke for the moment. "Couldn't resist me after last night, huh?"

"It wasn't me!" she instantly returned with a new shade of red plastered on her face, "I didn't do it! It was Aiya! It's her fault! It wasn't me who… who…"

"C'mon," he stated calmly as he swung his legs off the warm mattress, "I know that much by now. Get down here- you'll scratch my ceiling."

She obeyed and, after clambering down the wall, received a strong hand ruffling her messy brown hair. Once said palm was removed, she peered up at the yawning blonde and an embarrassed smile broke out on her features. "_I've just got to forget about that,_" she analyzed, "_Just got to forget about last night… got to forget…_"

"_You're welcome,_" Aiya piped up with a tone that would be accompanied by her trademark sly grin had she control of a pair of lips.

"S-shut up!" she shouted at the second personality, realizing too late that she was actually using her outward voice.

Naruto laughed at the outburst and started towards the kitchen. As he passed the flustered girl, he hooked her neck in a friendly arm and joked, "Fantasizing so early in the morning? You dirty girl, you…"

"Curse…" she whined like the kid she was, "You're so mean…"

--

To say Sai was an unusual boy was like saying the sky was kind of blue. The blank teen was socially clueless and possessed the oddest of techniques in the form of artwork- even his true name had long been erased, lost to the emotional meat grinder known as the ROOT training program.

Despite all that, the most important thing about him was that he was indeed affiliated with the ROOT program, even if he willingly disregarded his old teacher for the sake of rediscovering his humanity. These days, it was this singular fact that attracted extra attention from a select number of high class shinobi.

Said teen was at the rendezvous point early; punctuality had been drilled into his psyche though he no longer associated with Danzo. Of course, since his current instructor was the infamously tardy Kakashi, this admirable trait was utterly wasted- he was the only ninja there. As the minutes passed, it became clear that the others weren't going to show until much later, per their superior's chronic belatedness. He mulled around for a bit before realizing that the forest around the empty training ground was unnervingly calm. The birds vacated the area with their usual gusto and the local woodland mammals followed suit, albeit in a subtle manner. Sai instantly raised his guard when he understood he might not be alone and, sure enough, he wasn't.

There was a monstrous presence that suddenly appeared in some nearby shrubbery, so he tossed a handful of throwing stars into the bushes. A loud harsh yelp sounded off and one of the shuriken went flying back at him. He easily dodged it while unearthing his painting tools when an odd observation struck him. "_Was that shuriken smoking?_" Glancing back, he found that the steel weapon was slowly melting as a crimson fluid bubbled atop its surface. "How odd," he commented lowly before receiving an unexpected boot to the face.

"That hurt, damn it!" a decidedly feminine voice shouted as the iron-plated footwear ground into his gut to keep him in place against the dirt. The boy began utilizing his chakra to replace his vulnerable body with a glut of ink, but more of the searing red liquid dripped down onto his portable container and it also began to melt. He peered up in alarm, half expecting the strange acid to drip on his face, and almost blinked in surprise to find it coming from an open wound in an older girl's hand.

"Well?!" the redheaded girl demanded, flicking her wrist to somehow retract the blood oozing from her palm before the affected flesh began closing with the help of a minute amount of medical chakra. "You gonna gape at me like a fish all day?! Come on!"

"Who are you?" he replied calmly despite having a painful boot grind further into his bare stomach.

"I'm the one askin' questions here, albino!" she hissed, obviously upset for whatever reason. "And what's with this outfit?! You gay or somethin'?! Geez, why do I gotta interrogate the fag boys…" she trailed off.

"So what do you want?" the emotionless teen continued, hoping that she would get off if he satisfied her curiosity. "_If she's this upset already,_" he mused, "_Perhaps I can get some information out of her._"

"You worked for Danzo, right?" Her voice died down a bit, but she was still visibly pissed.

"That is correct."

"Where's the ROOT complex, then?"

A split second passed as he formulated an excuse. "There is no central headquarters. There are only meetings, and those vary from place to place…"

"Horse shit!" she shrieked and reopened her previous wound. This time, however, the acidic blood snaked outward and drifted perilously close to the captive male's head. "I know that's a lie! His operatives come outta one spot; now where is it?!"

Once again, he attempted to come up with a good lie- perhaps providing false coordinates would do the trick. "_Then at least I can warn Kakashi of this girl…_"

"Might want to do what she says," a smiling face leaned over the prone boy's head, muddy green eyes and wily dyed hair giving off an overly lax vibe. The newcomer came closer and whispered, "It's that time of the month, ya know?"

"_Time of the month?_" Sai wondered before outwardly recalling a fact about female physiology he once read in a book. "Ah, it's her period…"

"Damn right!" said girl's foot threatened to give him a hernia, "And I'm a Nashin! Do you have any idea how much it sucks to be a Nashin on her period?! I got metal undies on, for God's sake!"

"Anyway," the seemingly high emerald-eyed boy remarked as he staggered away, "It'd be a good idea to answer Bloody Mary's questions…"

"Don't call me that!" the Nashin replied to her swaying companion, "I could melt your face off with my crotch right now; not a good time to fuck with me!"

"Sorry, sorry," the apparent addict conceded before extracting a syringe brimming with a violet liquid. "Here's a peace offering," he brandished the needle as he made his way to the trapped pale boy, "Loaded Pinky up with this stuff over there; she'd lick your feet now if ya told her to…"

Sai glanced at the designated hostile to find Sakura seated on a nearby log, a distant look in her eyes. "What is that?" he inquired, understanding that if the talented medic girl couldn't resist the narcotic there was no chance that he could fight it.

"Jus' a little somethin' somethin' to zone you out," the older teen replied with a smirk and a highly amused chuckle. He jabbed the needle into the target's arm and promptly emptied the connected tube into Sai's bloodstream. "You're probably not gonna remember this conversation," he informed the affected teen as the effects of the drug started kicking in, "Or anything else for the next hour or so."

The pale boy's mind began to feel lighter than air and the environment suddenly seemed so distant. All his previous worries about escaping alive or at least warning someone of his redheaded captor became moot points- "_Why were those important?_" he honestly wondered, unable to even realize that those thoughts were the results of the narcotic running through his veins rather than his own mental processes. "_Ah, I never knew there were so many colors… oh, she's talking to me…_"

"Now," the Nashin ground her armored foot one final time into the doped up former underling of Danzo, mildly pleased that he now appeared more responsive than before. "Where's the ROOT complex located and where's its entrance?"

--

As the afternoon waned so did Anko's temperament. She had been searching for Curse the entire day to no avail whatsoever, and now she had finally resigned herself to stalking Danzo… or at least get as close as she could without arousing suspicion within the alleged ROOT organization. Sadly, such hopes were too extravagant for the moment- she had gotten nowhere. "_Course, it's only been one day…_" she muttered inwardly for consolation.

"Anko," Kurenai approached her sulking friend from the opposite end of the busy market street, "Can't say I see you around this part of the village too often."

She glared at her friend with sleepy eyes. "Lookin' for Dan…" she caught herself; the walls had ears in Konoha. "…Dango… shops. Seen any around?"

Interestingly, the Yuhi caught on to her comrade's mistake and compounded on the insinuation. "Not around here, no; I haven't seen any." She winked. "Tell you what, how about I treat you to an actual meal? There's a really nice stand over there…"

The Mitarashi continued her weary gaze unabated, an awkward silence passing before she let loose an uncouth yawn. "You still talkin' in code or you serious?"

"Come on," the crimson-eyed ninja stated with an exacerbated tone as she nabbed the fellow kunoichi's arm and dragged her into said restaurant. They commandeered a pair of empty chairs against a wall and she stared her tired friend down. "You look exhausted. How long has it been since you slept?"

Once again, another drawn out yawn. "Not since yesterday night. Been lookin' for… well… you know."

"Dango shops?" she reiterated with no minor degree of slyness.

"No, no- this… this seal," the violet-haired woman patted the base of her neck over the patch of flesh affected by her former teacher's parting 'gift'.

"Ah, your _curse_ seal…" Kurenai knew exactly what the opposing female meant, "Looking for a solution?"

"Yeah," Anko nodded, propping open a menu to scan its contents. "Can't find hide nor hair of it anywhere though. Not even the Ghost- hurk…" Her lips were silenced by a glare filled with caution from across the table.

The Yuhi eventually admitted her understanding with a slight bow of the head. "I know what you mean; I haven't seen anything either." She folded her menu after deciding on a dish. "I ran into Kakashi earlier today," the illusion mistress changed the topic, "He mentioned something interesting about his team."

"That lazy bastard? What'd he have to say?"

"Well, to begin, apparently one of his charges belongs to the… dango shops… or at least he used to. Not even Kakashi's sure what to think about him."

"Really?" This caught the sweet lover's attention, and her wide eyes betrayed her intrigue. "Think we can use this kid?"

She shook her head. "I think someone beat us to it. He also mentioned that when he arrived at the rendezvous point- two hours late, I might add- he found two of his charges recovering from the effects of some kind of drug."

"Which ones?"

"That boy I just told you about- Sai- and Sakura Haruno."

"Haruno?" That name rang a bell. "That pinky girl? Isn't she apprenticed to the Hokage as a medic?"

"She is."

"And she couldn't fight whatever got slipped to her," she repeated that fact for verification.

"That's correct."

"Man…" the Mitarashi sat back in her seat, "Must've been some strong stuff if she couldn't handle it. Any idea who did it?"

"Not a clue. Neither of them remember anything either."

The snake mistress grimaced at the initial notion that popped into her head. "Kinda like a ghost…"

A moment of silence passed between the two friends before Kurenai decided to speak again. But before she could, the Yuhi frowned at a ruckus occurring at the front of the establishment; an argument between an older boy and a girl had gradually increased in volume to the point where it had become a bother. "Geez, kids these days…"

Anko, sitting with her back to the entrance, turned a lazy eye to observe the aforementioned scene and almost fell over upon locating the offending parties. "It's you!" she shouted, bolting upright from her chair.

Without so much as a glance the messy teenager in question yelled, "Cops!" and charged out the door, lurching to the side as if about to trip the entire duration. The redhead who had spent much time talking in an obviously irate tone followed after him. The Mitarashi obliged and gave chase, leaving behind a Kurenai too shocked to make a move other than gaping like a fish.

The instant the snake charming woman exited the facility she lost sight of the duo. She leapt onto a nearby rooftop and scanned the busy street, anger growing as time passed second by second. "Damn it!" she hissed, "Don't tell me I lost 'em already!"

"You dumbass!" a harsh voice echoed through the bustling marketplace, easily startling everyone within earshot. "You and your munchies! Just gotta make this day suck more than it already does!" Some kind of apology resounded in reply but was silenced by a loud crash. "I told you not to call me that! My name's not Mary, stoner!"

"Bingo," Anko murmured before taking off in the general direction of the mobile argument. She utilized her sharp ears to hone in on the excessive noise given off by the surprisingly spry female. Eventually, said target came into view with an emerald-eyed teen with badly dyed hair stumbling closely behind. "_Why the hell's she walking like that?_" the violet-haired jonin wondered, curious as to why the fiery girl was walking with spread legs. A smoking hunk of metal suddenly flew her way and she dodged, feeling a burning sensation as a droplet of some kind of fluid spattered on her arm. "Ow! Holy shit, that burns!" She stopped and shouted an increasing number of obscenities in the middle of the dusty road, frightening the civilians who could only wonder what the hell just happened.

"Anko!" Kurenai's familiar voice reverberated through the crowd as she finally caught up to her wayward friend, "What happened?! Are you injured?!"

"Yeah," she sputtered, burying a thumb into the soft portion of the affected limb to distract her senses from the searing sensation that was finally subsiding. A small but serious wound had opened up- it appeared to be an acid burn, but she had never seen such a strong substance before. "I'll be fine," she panted, beads of sweat running down her face, "It hurts like hell, but I'll live."

"Come on," the Yuhi calmly directed the woman with an arm around the shoulder, "Let's get that looked at."

"No," the Mitarashi argued, "We gotta catch that guy! He knows about…"

"Anko!" the normally serene shinobi shouted, "You're injured! Worry about him later. Besides, he's long gone; I don't even hear that girl who was with him anymore."

The snake charmer grimaced and accepted her fate; another failed attempt to locate Curse or apprehend the people associated with him. "_Damn it, is he really that much better than me? Is he really so freakishly talented that even the people who work with him are beyond my capabilities?_"

"How'd you get that wound?" the illusion mistress inquired, breaking the spunky woman from her brooding.

"That redhead bitch threw something at me," she spat. In a vain attempt to point out said object, her eyes scanned the ground despite her knowing it might not be around anymore. But lo and behold, miracles happen. "Hey- it's that thing!" She aimed a finger at a boiling metal plate that curved in unusual directions.

"That thing?" the Yuhi wondered aloud, leaning in to obtain a closer look. "Are those… straps… on the sides?"

"Even better," the supported Mitarashi continued, her curiosity currently stronger than her residing pain, "Why's it shaped like panties?"

--

"Phew," a certain addict plopped onto the dim cool ground and whacked the back of his head against the stone wall, "That was close. Nice move!" He and his redheaded comrade had narrowly avoided capture by evading their pursuer long enough to find a hole that led into the hive beneath Konoha.

"Nuren," the Nashin female replied with the promise of torment and death lining her voice, "I swear to God, if you look this way I'll kill you."

"Huh? Why's…"

"Because my pants burned off!"

"Nah, it's cool. You're still wearin' undies…"

"Those melted off too, dipshit!"

"Ah… wait, then why can't I look?" The tone of his voice spoke volumes to his drug-induced stupidity.

"Moron!" A punch accompanied the insult, rendering the druggie temporarily unconscious against the cavern floor. "Aw hell, now I gotta drag 'im back…"

--

Hinata sat idly in her private chamber wondering what her newest machine was capable of. Granted, she considered it a gift of repentance from the stoner squatting in her lab, but he seemed confident enough that it worked tremendously well. "_Of course, he also calls the crystal a 'plague', so him being sure of himself isn't really that reassuring._" She had to resist the urge to test it out today; it was too risky. In order to perform a field application with the device, she would have to sneak out of her room and go missing from the village in broad daylight in order to execute techniques with a machine that could potentially alert the entire city to her location. That simply would not do.

So instead, she took the advice of her favorite blonde; she relaxed. Deciding for a change of scenery, she took up a comfortable position overlooking one of the lavish estate's many gardens. Hanabi passed by, uttering grunts of irritation and still scratching like mad from Shia's prank. Even after five consecutive baths the itching powder so cautiously applied to her body didn't wash off completely. The intelligent Hyuuga giggled inwardly at her snotty sibling's deserved misfortunes before her mind wandered.

"_It's such a beautiful day- I wish I could spend it with Naruto._" Thoughts of the teen brought forth familiar warmth within her chest which she did not contest. "_I wonder what will happen after we dispose of Danzo?_" The logical portion of her overactive brain kicked in at that observation. "_That is, assuming Danzo doesn't get the best of us. We don't even know the extent of his forces. For that matter, he may not be alone…_" She briefly recalled the two strangers that miraculously entered and exited her lab via flashes of light in a successful attempt to acquire Mosh-mosh's aging corpse. "_I'm actually hoping those guys are with him- the last thing we need are unknown enemies. But what if they aren't? What if they're really a third party? And what about that shadow man that slaughtered the Sound's reconnaissance force during Orochimaru's invasion? Is he with Danzo? Is he with those two intruders? Could he even be with a… a fourth party?!_" Shuddering at that idea, she realized someone was calling her name. "Y-yes?"

"Hinata," her nearby cousin Neji appeared worried, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine…"

"I called your name several times yet you did not respond. Are you not feeling well?" He obviously hadn't completely rid himself of his built-up hatred for all things of the main family, but he was earnestly trying.

"_Oh, good lord. This again?_" she grimaced inwardly at her terrible habit, "I-I may be under the w-weather a l-little bit. W-what did you need me f-for?"

"Lord Hiashi requests your presence," he bowed his head ever so slightly.

"O-okay." The dainty Hyuuga stood to make her way to her parent's chamber, leaving the relative behind.

"_I… think she is lying,_" the self-proclaimed genius concluded, "_She seemed distracted rather than ill. Her eyes displayed inward reflection, but I cannot say whether or not they were pleasant thoughts._" Deciding that his younger cousin held an aura of mystery about her that defied explanation, even going beyond the bounds of her infatuation with the Uzumaki, his pale eyes followed after her route. "_Hinata Hyuuga… is there something you are hiding?_"

--

As the sun dipped into the late afternoon sky, Naruto enjoyed his day off. He had hoped to see Hinata in the village, but this was not to be; his daily façade of a routine simply did not coincide with her own withdrawn projections. "_Oh well,_" he brushed it off as he laid back on his bed, thoroughly basking in the soft comfort of the musty mattress, "_I'll see her again tomorrow night. It's not like we go that long without seeing each other anyway…_"

But before he could ponder any further on the blue-haired prodigy, a certain younger girl flew through the air and landed on him with a cheer and a wide goofy smile. "Hi Curse!" Shia happily exclaimed now that her face was no more that eight inches away from the blonde's, "Are you going out tonight?"

"No," he answered while running a hand through her messy auburn hair, "I'm too tired for that. I can't go for several days without sleep; it's not healthy."

"Aww…" she cooed, obviously taking great pleasure in being so close to the object of her affection. "So you're just staying in tonight?"

"Yep," the Uzumaki replied with a smile.

"Alright!" She hopped to her feet and proclaimed with exaggerated victory, "Then I'm making dinner!"

He laughed at her gusto, realizing that she was blatantly imitating his idiotic visage. "Sure, sure."

She giggled and clapped her palms together. "I'm so happy!" she cheered, "Dinner with Curse…"

A knock emanated from the door, instantly sending the apartment into utter silence. The blonde genius eyed said wooden barricade from his bedroom with a wary glare before whispering, "Shia, hide." The brown-haired girl nodded and promptly obeyed as Naruto strode to the door and opened it to reveal one of the people who used to annoy him most. "_Hell,_" he mused, "_She hasn't gotten much better. Her personality still sucks eggs…_"

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura greeted the instant their eyes met, "Can I come in?"

"_Never stopped you before,_" he whined inwardly while concealing his inherent dislike with a grin. "Sure!"

"Thanks." The female medic stepped in and began unconsciously examining the room, mentally checking herself before she could make any offhanded comments on the home's relatively poor condition. "Hey, um… I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, sure," he replied. "_This could either be really good or really bad… keep your fingers crossed, Uzumaki!_" She took a seat on his couch, prompting the blonde to sit opposite her on a stool. Curse would have brought up the subtle rudeness of the setup, but he simply didn't care anymore.

"When we met up with Kakashi this morning, you showed up kind of late…"

"Er, yeah, about that," he instantly went into excuse mode, "I usually show up when Kakashi finally gets there. You know, about three hours…"

"I'm not mad about that," she waved that off, strangely non-confrontational regarding his tardiness, "But when Kakashi showed up, I don't remember having to wait for long."

His azure eyes scrunched up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, um… how do I put this? I remember leaving to arrive on time and then was suddenly there two hours later when Kakashi finally showed up."

"Wow, you must've been really tired," the teen commented. "_Might be Hinata's doing, but I thought she was also going to take it easy today?_"

"It's not that!" she denied his simple explanation, "Sai also doesn't remember anything! Well, he said something about a bloody Mary, but even he doesn't know what that's about…"

"_Blood? Must've been that Garaza chick. If Sakura was drugged this badly, then Nuren was probably involved too._"

"It's just…" she continued, "It bothers me. I just had to share this with someone."

"Oh yeah, sure- holy…!" He cut himself off too late; he was surprised when a pair of auburn eyes popped out from behind the couch and glared daggers into the back of Sakura's head.

"What's up with you?" the Haruno inquired snidely, turning to examine whatever was behind her due to noticing her teammate's wandering eyes. Finding nothing, she faced the seated boy once again.

On cue, Shia's eyes rose from behind the furniture again, this time with a certain harshness in them that only showed up in Aiya. "_Oh good lord,_" Naruto mentally begged the disturbed girl, "_Don't do anything stupid, Aiya…_"

As if understanding him, the second personality obeyed, albeit mockingly. As the Uzumaki downplayed his sudden reaction to make himself appear a mere fool before continuing the meaningless conversation, the alter ego switched positions several times. With each change, she imitated some kind of mock killing blow to the blissfully unaware older medic all the while sporting something of a cross between a sly smile and annoyed sneer across her features. After a while it appeared like a child dancing wildly- though that was kind of the case anyway.

After a handful of nerve-wracking minutes, the blonde prodigy finally wrapped things up with the Haruno and got her out of his apartment. Once he was certain she was out of earshot, he turned to the smug mindset and hissed, "What the hell were you doing?!"

Aiya merely grinned at him with her odd smirk. "Fun stuff, eh? I think there's somethin' to that 'subliminal messaging' thing…"

"You could've blown our cover! Why did you do that?!"

"Hey, I helped get rid of her, didn't I?"

"Only because I had to act faster!"

"And that's bad because…?" Any joviality in her mood was now obliterated. Apparently, she didn't appreciate her actions being questioned by anyone despite the circumstances.

Naruto breathed deeply to calm himself. "I had it under control," he stated once his head was a tad clearer, "That was an unnecessary risk. That's all."

"Well," she crossed her arms, mildly angered that she received no thanks. "I don't like Pinky; she pisses me off."

"Why do you say that?" He didn't like Sakura either, but he knew her. Aiya didn't.

"Shia doesn't like her either," the aggressive personality continued, ignoring the inquiry altogether. "She let me take control to make her leave."

"Again, why?"

The secondary mindset said nothing in reply, but her face warmed to the lowest shade of red available before her special seal cooled and her consciousness gave way to Shia. The dominant girl's kinder auburn eyes blinked and the primary self said, "I just… don't like her…"

The undercover genius sighed; he knew once his adopted family put her foot down there was no hope of prying information out of her. "Fine, fine…" He mulled about his living room for a minute longer, noting that the younger girl didn't move. "Um… didn't you say we would eat together tonight…?"

"Right!" her usual cheeriness returned in an instant and she made way for the kitchen. "I've got something really good in mind…"

"Alright, I'm gonna be in the shower." The moment he announced his plan he regretted it; he still hadn't forgotten the bath incident from the previous evening. Apparently neither had Shia, if her skeptical wide eyes were any indication. "No," he aimed a finger at her, "We're not going through that again."

"Yeah, yeah," she nodded rapidly in agreement, hastening her way so that she could preoccupy her mind with cooking.

And so, the mismatched family enjoyed a peaceful dinner that consisted of various types of meats, fruits, and vegetables mixed in with- what else- ramen. They hit the hay soon afterwards, the sun having set to bid the day farewell.

* * *

I kinda felt that the last two chapters have been filler, but no more! Things are finally picking up.

Sadly, so is my work load. Lots of work to be done. (Yeah, yeah, I know- I keep saying that, but look what happens anyway...)

So anywayz...

WHERE'S THE LOVE FOR JIRAIYA??

Seriously, no one ever roots for this guy. Why? He's awesome! A self-proclaimed super pervert that could kick 90 percent of the world's ass. What more could ya want?

And what could the fox mean by his... 'vague'... dialog?? Tune in to find out!

LOVE AND RUM!! (Peace will ensue)


	30. Finally Back on Track!

Yo! Sorry for taking so long, but the summer semester's wrapping up and I've got three hellish classes that love heavy workloads to deal with. Seriously, do you guys have any idea how time consuming it is to be awesome?? It takes work!

Also, sorry for the chapter length, but I was getting tired of the filler-like updates myself. This chapter could have been longer, but I think it would have just been more filler if I did so.

Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

"Great," Naruto murmured to no one, "Back here again."

He knew this location to be buried within his psyche; the prison of the ever mysterious fox. The teen didn't particularly care to be here but there were questions that nagged him horribly: the origins of the Sharingan, the evolution of the Byakugan, and, most importantly, this 'Omega Project' mentioned during his previous visit.

"**Back so soon, boy?**" the massive force stirred behind its cage, "**I had hoped to never see your face again. That is, unless I was about to consume you…**"

"Shut it," he retorted coldly, "I've got questions and you're gonna answer."

The dank waters shook at the demon's roaring laughter. "**I am amused to no end by your impudence! You are such a fool to believe that I will obey your command.**"

"Then whose command would you obey? The Sharingan's?"

"**Only those who wield the Shangri-La mutagen,**" it replied with a sneer, "**But even that is not all powerful.**"

"Then what is?" the blonde demanded. He grew weary of the fox's vocal ambiguity. "Is it the Byakugan- the BMC?"

Once again, the ground trembled from the monstrous laughter. "**The BMC is a natural evolution of those crippled by the loss of sight; it merely senses different spectrums of light. It controls nothing.**"

"Then what does?" he repeated angrily, "What's stronger than the Sharingan? Tell me!"

"**The Angel Eyes,**" the beast chuckled.

"Angel Eyes…?" the Uzumaki muttered introspectively, "Is that an 'origin' name for another bloodline?"

"**Of sorts.**"

"Which bloodline?"

The demonic power grinned widely and bared its teeth to its warden. "**It gets dull sitting in this prison- my only source of entertainment is watching you struggle through your eyes.**"

"Just answer the damn question."

"**I shall give you a reply, boy, but I will not reveal it to you. I expect you shall go through great pains to understand my riddle.**" It paused and smiled as the boy below groaned. "**Let those who possess the eyes of the angels hold the key to the gates of paradise. None who possess the key shall enter unto heaven; paradise shall be denied them and eternal suffering shall await their wayward soul.**"

"What… the… hell…?" the blonde raised an eyebrow at the proverb. "What a shitty answer!"

"**The people of ancient times spoke differently than the ones of today- that is the best I can translate using your pitiful language.**"

"Ancient times? How old we talkin' here? Four hundred years?" he threw a number out, "Five hundred?"

Yet again, the fox laughed in his face. "**You cannot fathom the complexity of time. Even I,**" it emphasized its own existence, "**Am not eternal.**"

Curse's eyes widened at the implication. "You're… not eternal? I thought you've been around since the beginning of time…"

"**Foolish mortal. Have you ever known a being to be everlasting?**"

"But… then what…?"

"**I grow weary of your ignorance,**" the evil force cut him off, "**Awaken in your world with my riddle on your mind. Be sure to wrack your brain for the answer to entertain me.**" The Uzumaki attempted to argue further but simply vanished into thin air as his true consciousness stirred. When he was gone the fox muttered to itself, "**Your life is far more peaceful than you think. Even the bloodshed on the day of your birth is nothing compared to the night I was created…**"

--

As another morning rose in the village of Konoha, Naruto blinked his slumber away in the early morning light with little amusement. Once again, the damnable fox left him with more questions than answers. "_And I even forgot to ask about that 'Omega Project'!_" he bemoaned inwardly. But before he could ponder his frustration further, he felt something clinging onto him. It took no effort to know what it was. "_Seriously,_" he honestly wondered, "_Why do I bother?_"

Once again, Shia was sleeping on top of him. "_What is this, routine?!_" Never mind that the younger girl usually began below his mattress on her own futon on the floor- she always ended up in his much higher bed. "_She's either hoping to catch me off guard or…_" On a hunch he pressed the girl's nose, prompting her to awake slowly then suddenly stiffen in place.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she yelped, unable to move her frozen legs, "It was Aiya! I went to sleep and woke up here…!"

"_…Yep, it's Aiya,_" he smiled, patting the alarmed adoptee on the head for reassurance. "At least you're wearing clothes," he joked, chuckling when her face did an adequate job of imitating a tomato.

Instead of doing the logical thing and attempting to clear the area, she buried herself deeper into the covers to hide her embarrassment. "S-sorry…"

Naruto pulled her back up by the collar, chuckling the whole way. He wasn't particularly angry- far from it, he was greatly amused. "_Looks like Aiya likes messin' with her…_" he mused, "_Or… maybe she…_"

"Well ain't that cute?" a foreign voice spoke, resulting in two previously resting individuals to bolt from the vicinity in opposite directions with amazing velocity. Shia practically glued herself to one wall while the Uzumaki almost became part of the architecture on the other side.

An awkward moment passed and the blonde sighed in obvious relief. "Oh my God, Garaza," he wheezed, "Don't do that again…"

She laughed heartily. "Ah, that was great. Who knew you two were this close?"

"We are not!" Shia instantly retorted, immediately knowing that her words and actions were severely contradictory. "That's Aiya's work…"

"Ah, gotchya," the redhead winked as she strolled over to the relaxing girl before hooking her neck in a friendly headlock. The Nashin then spun around to that the two females faced away from the undercover prodigy so he couldn't hear them, despite the fact that Naruto's senses were well above average, aural senses included. "Just so ya know," she whispered with a mischievous grin to match the sly tone, "It only hurts the first time."

"It… huh?" Shia didn't understand.

"It's like this…" Garaza elaborated, keeping her snickering to a minimum as she whispered the inner workings of the facts of life to a reddening preteen. The instant she finished her brief informative monologue, Shia regarded the world with a blank stare, halted breath, and damn near all the blood in her body pooling into her skull. The blood user almost swore she saw steam rising from her protégé's ears.

"Garaza!" the blonde genius berated the older girl, having heard everything from his distance.

The crimson-eyed woman grinned and giggled as she released the disturbed girl from the half-embrace. "What? No one else'll tell her this stuff. Besides, it's useful…"

"She's twelve!"

"Ah," the Nashin adopted an overly airy and dramatic voice, looking off into the unknown distance in a humorous attempt at being profound, "But love knows no age…"

"Stuff it!" He scratched his nose in a concealed attempt to stem the impending bleeding.

"But ya know," the blood user continued with a bit more seriousness in her tone. "All that applies to Silence, too." Normally, she would have been wary of implying a relationship between the dual geniuses while Shia was within earshot, but the younger girl was still busy cupping her blazing red face and sorting out all that… revealing… information. "Good thing ya listened…"

Naruto furrowed his brow in thought. "Wait, so have you and… Nuren…?" He trailed off in the hope that the older teen would comprehend the implication.

She laughed instead. "Nah, nah. He'd be dead," she winked.

The Uzumaki trembled in horror at that notion.

"Anyway," Garaza launched into work mode and dropped the carefree personality, "I came here to tell ya I found the ROOT compound's entrance… or exit, depending on how ya wanna look at it."

"Really?" This captured his interest. "How'd you find it?"

"Your squad mate, actually. That gay albino…"

"Sai." Funny how he knew that based on such a derogatory description.

"Yeah, him. Nuren drugged his ass and I interrogated 'im. He shouldn't remember anything…"

"He doesn't. Neither does Sakura."

"Who?"

"Sakura Haruno… medic, pink hair…"

"Ah, pinky," the Nashin understood that part, "Cool, then. Our tracks are covered. Anyway, just figured you'd like to know. I know you guys don't like movin' during the day, but I thought you'd wanna know so ya could plan on it."

"Yeah, thanks. Does Hinata know this?"

"Not yet; we're goin' over there right now."

"Alright." A thought struck him. "Hey, how'd you get in here?"

"Used your tunnel," she jerked a thumb at the open trap door. "Nuren's downstairs- he ain't composed enough to climb a ladder, if ya know what I mean."

"How'd you deactivate all the traps?" Shia did the same thing once, but she possessed knowledge of the inner workings of seals. As far as he knew, Garaza did not.

"Yeah," she smirked apologetically and clasped her palms together, "Sorry 'bout those…"

The blonde deadpanned. "What'd you do?"

"I've, uh, kinda got some blood to spare right now, so… yeah…"

"Blood to spare?"

She knocked against a piece of metal directly over her more… private areas and commented, "Pair number eight."

"_Extra blood… metal underwear that's the eighth pair…_" He added two and two mentally and scowled deeply upon deciphering the indirect answer. "Oh, that is fuckin' gross!"

She chuckled lightly. "Yeah, yeah, like I said, sorry. Mood swings aren't so bad in the mornings. Anyways," the Nashin approached the open tunnel and crawled down the imbedded ladder, "See ya later!" The section of floorboards that served as a hatch clicked back into place, leaving the blonde and auburn-haired girl alone once again.

The Uzumaki sighed. "Can't I have a normal morning for once? Is that too much to ask?" He turned to find an immobile Shia still contemplating what Garaza told her. "You okay?" She didn't budge, not that he could blame her. The teen approached the girl and tapped her on the shoulder, eliciting a yelp as it broke the younger female from her internal debate.

"C-C-Curse," she stuttered, a sure sign that she was embarrassed as all hell. "I… I…" Her mouth gaped like a fish and the words wouldn't come; she still vividly remembered the 'birds and the bees' as the Nashin called it, and the fact that the male object of her affections stood three feet away with his attention focused on her didn't help matters. Subconscious struggling to deal with the overload, her eyes rolled back and she fainted…

Or would have if her head didn't suddenly snap back into place. Her eyes blinked and Aiya was in control. The second self brought her index fingers together and tapped in a way frighteningly similar to Hinata's shy girl visage. But Aiya was all but introverted; her lips were contorted in a cunning grin and her eyes stared at her occupied fingers in a disturbing way. "So that's how it works…" she stated quietly, stealing a brief glance at Naruto. A trickle of blood ran out her nose and the alternate mindset promptly passed out.

The blonde caught the collapsing girl and gently placed her on his bed. He stood and sighed while mentally reviewing the aggressive personality's comment and facial expressions prior to unconsciousness. "This could be trouble," he muttered. The last time Aiya passed out from shock, she made a habit of crawling into bed with him during the dead of night. Now that she was suddenly armed with the knowledge of how certain anatomical parts worked and where they 'fit', he feared for his future.

"I wonder if Garaza can make me some metal boxers…"

--

Anko took it easy today, still worn out from her little 'jog' the previous day. She and her old friend, Kurenai, sat at an outdoor table of a small café on the ever busy main market street of Konoha exchanging small talk.

"So…" the Mitarashi summed up, "You and Asuma, eh? Sure kept that one quiet."

The Yuhi blushed ever so slightly. "Yes, yes, drop it will you? We don't care to announce it to the world just yet."

"Fine," she assented before a devilish grin spread across her lips, "Of course, you'll be announcing it if you leave your window open…"

"Anko!"

The snake charmer got a good laugh out of that- she loved teasing her friend over the dating scene. "Hey, you walked into that one…"

"Ugh, you're incorrigible," she took a gulp of tea to stem her temper. "What about you?" she changed the subject, "I never see you with anyone. You trying to hide someone as well?"

She laughed it off to downplay that comment but the attempt came off rather pathetic. "Nah, you kidding me? It's the single life for me."

Kurenai arched an eyebrow. "Really?" she replied apprehensively, "Are you sure? You seem to speak rather highly of a certain someone."

"Who?" she chuckled, positive that the illusion user was joking.

"Oh, you know… a man with no name and a mask- ah!" No sooner had she stated the insinuation that Anko reflexively spurted a mouthful of tea on her.

"Shit, sorry!" the Mitarashi apologized immediately and moved to wipe off some of the mess.

"It's fine," the Yuhi pursued the injustice no further- her friend didn't mean it. "Looks like I got my answer though."

"Huh?"

"Here, I'll do this," she shooed the hesitant snake mistress back into her chair and continued to mop up with her own handful of napkins. "Looks like someone is in denial," she cooed with a mischievous smile.

"No way in hell!"

"Come on… you trust the guy and follow whatever he says and you don't even know what he looks like."

She pouted. "I just wanna know who could go up against Orochimaru's army singlehandedly. Nothing more."

"Are you sure? You wear yourself thin looking for him almost every day. Are you sure that you might not have just a tiny little crush on the guy?"

"I am positive," she stated slowly to exemplify her point, although her mind knew Kurenai had provided a set of valid points. "_Wait, why do I place so much trust in the guy? I don't know who he is, where he's from, or even what he looks like._" The logical portion of her brain then offered a rebuttal. "_Well, he did take out Takaimi- I'm sure of that much. I remember enough of that bitch to know that she wouldn't have just let him destroy her guitar without a fight. But could he have been acting in his own interests instead of the village? What if he had a personal goal that just happened to benefit Konoha? Would that make him any less of a threat? And what about Danzo's orders? Curse seemed to want to put that old fart away for good for defying the Hokage. But… could he be driven by personal motives this time as well? Why is he willing to do so much for nothing?_"

"You awake Anko?" the Yuhi's voice pulled the woman back into reality.

She shook her head to clear it. "I'm fine."

"What was that long pause?" the crimson-eyed woman leaned in closer and lowered her concerned voice.

"Huh? Oh, nothin'…"

"You know I was kidding about you having a crush on Curse, right?"

"What- hey!" she pushed her off, "Enough of that. There's nothing there; I just wanna know who he is. That's it."

She shrugged. "If you say so…"

An awkward moment passed as the longtime friends said nothing before Anko broke the silence. "Hey, why exactly were you summoned by Lady Hokage during that meeting?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing really. Kakashi told me a long time ago about some concerns he had with his student, Naruto, and I happened to have a few worries myself at the time. It was nothing, though."

Her snaky eyes narrowed. "You had a few worries about Naruto Uzumaki…?"

"Oh, no- they were about some strange behavior from one of my students, not him."

"Which one?" The Mitarashi felt a breakthrough emerging.

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"Hyuuga?" she recalled the teen in question, "You mean that shy one?"

"Yes," she nodded and set her cup down. "Have you figured something out?"

Her eyes scrunched up in concentration. "Maybe. The Uzumaki kid was targeted by Danzo for his… abilities…" she checked her phrasing so as not to violate any special laws, "Could the Hyuuga girl also be a targeted?"

"Why would that happen?"

Anko returned a blank glare. "You're kidding, right?"

"Sorry," she shook her head, "What I meant to say is why would Danzo target someone that is such a high priority on the security list when he has ample opportunities with someone who is not? There's a lot more Hyuugas that aren't so well protected…"

"I dunno," the snake charmer shrugged, "Maybe to tip the balance of power? She _is_ a VIP as far as status goes; maybe he's trying to shake up clan business."

Kurenai leaned forward to discuss the matter further, not noticing a figure that paid close attention to the pitifully unguarded debate. Said person was a monstrous individual who towered over many of the village's inhabitants: the infamous super pervert, Jiraiya. When the two females began talking about things that should have remained in the shadows, he listened intently with a growing smirk. "_Heh, women do love to talk after all…_" he congratulated his intuition as the conversation dragged on. After a while he lost interest- their musings were going in a circle- but he had gleaned one amazingly useful piece of information that was a large piece of the puzzle.

"_A second 'target', eh?_" he chuckled inwardly, "_I remember hearing rumors of a 'Silent River' alongside all those 'Cursed Wind' stories…_" A wide grin exploded on his face and he strolled off. "_I gotta confirm it first, but if my hunch is correct… ah, kid, you are one lucky bastard!_"

--

Hinata sneezed mightily before activating her bloodline to scan the vicinity. "_Weird, I don't have allergies…_" After a moment, she nodded her head in satisfaction of her solitude. "_Good; not even an ANBU patrol around here. Closest person is over a mile away._"

She hid amongst the overgrown grass in a slight clearing surrounded by gargantuan trees; the Hyuuga desired absolute privacy at the moment. She was here to practice a water-based technique that would aid her arsenal immensely and exponentially compound her control of a battlefield when coupled with the acidic fluid that could melt through anything.

Silence wished she could have done this sooner but she never had a chance. Shortly after Naruto's completed assignment to retrieve Gaara her assistant Hyuuga, Shiori, had retrieved a copy of the official mission statements from all the Konoha teams involved in the operation, including Gai and his squad. In the report, the close combat specialist claimed that he and his subordinates battled a sort of clone of the missing ninja known as Kisame Hoshigaki. Said criminal apparently used a high end technique to transform the battlefield into a fairly deep lake.

Hinata had an idea of how the Exploding Water Shockwave worked, but practical application was required to truly understand it. Since a ton of water was involved, she could not risk performing it in her handy practice tunnel due to the potential risks of drowning or, worse yet, revealing her position or identity. Of course, she was vulnerable out in the open, but no one was around. "_If I can just produce a small amount of water, then I'll be able to replicate the results on a large scale later._"

So as the hours passed and the blue-haired genius trained herself to become a water-spewing machine, a certain old man observed through his trusty telescope well beyond a mile away. After a period of surveillance, the aging shinobi smirked and lowered his peeping equipment. "So…" Jiraiya said to no one, "Just like I thought. Way to go, Naruto… oh!"

He immediately spied the open air hot springs and quickly replaced the portable telescope to his eye while a miniscule amount of drool appeared from the corner of his mouth. Oh, what a glorious afternoon…

--

As the night finally fell, the curtain rose on the lethal play gradually taking place beneath the streets of Konoha. Curse made his way through his section of tunnels towards the familiar passage known as the 'Hub' to him and his fellow prodigy, excited as could be that tonight was the night he and the pale-eyed girl raided the ROOT compound. He arrived at the rendezvous point quickly and surveyed the area with his heart pounding in his ears. The blonde looked forward to fighting side by side with the Hyuuga girl again, and he wouldn't deny that to himself, not now.

He had spent a lot of time during the daylight hours thinking about how to break the news of the fox to the opposing genius. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he would definitely tell her immediately following their nocturnal excursion come hell or high water. His sharp ears picked up a soft clanging of steel on stone and he instantly knew the aforementioned teen was nearby.

Silence stepped out from her respective tunnel into the dim light of the elongated shaft with her metallic boots quietly clicking against the ground. She smiled so brightly behind her intimidating mask that she felt Naruto could see right through the centimeters of steel. "Hey, Curse!" she called and waved, using the boy's nickname in case anyone undesirable was listening.

"Hey Silence!" he returned and approached her, enveloping her in a quick bear hug in greeting. Releasing her, he stepped back a few feet and addressed her with a smile of his own. "So, Garaza told me she and Nuren found the ROOT base's location."

"Yeah," she nodded, "Thanks for loaning them your teammates." She giggled at the notion of a stoned Sakura.

He laughed. "Yeah, no problem. She never told me where it was though- I assume she gave you a map or something?"

"Of course." She tapped her head with a dainty finger. "I've already got the location memorized. Ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he 'unsheathed' a slim sword from one of the tattoo seals on his right upper arm. This was but one of a vast arsenal he carried in the vacuum of ink.

"Then let's go." With that, both geniuses disappeared from the massive chamber and Hinata took the lead.

--

Danzo sat in silence in his private quarters, preparing to sleep. Despite his relatively good health, he was still an old man who tired easily; his physical body was no longer as acute as his mind. He stood from the short table on his floor and strolled to his bed when he felt a presence approach his door. "Enter," he commanded, recognizing the chakra signature.

The air shimmered and one of the cloaked members of the ROOT organization appeared in a subservient stance. "Sir, we have a situation."

His face remained an impassively cold stone. "A situation?"

"Yes, sir. We… well, sir, we think intruders have found our headquarters."

"You think?" he repeated with a widening eye, "What do you mean you 'think'? Is it the strongmen?"

"We… do not know, sir."

"How can you not know?"

"Sir, do you remember when our forces began disappearing three years ago?"

The old war hawk delved into his memories. "Yes," he nodded, recalling those frustrating times where his personal army literally began vanishing into thin air with no traces whatsoever. "That is an act of the strongmen. Is it happening again?" He grimaced at that notion- he didn't care to lose more ninjas.

"No sir," the nameless masked man shook his head, "The ones who disappeared are showing up again!"

--

The air was still as two shadows morphed across the walls in absolute silence. This time, the Konoha duo believed stealth over force was necessary- even they had limits when it came to combat, and the ROOT organization was known for utilizing underhanded tactics shrouded by the façade of sheer brute strength. If they were found, the enemy would most likely throw numbers at them until they fell. Hinata quietly led Curse through the dim halls and fed him instructions via hand signs- not a word was uttered between the dual prodigies.

Upon approaching the general vicinity of the hostile complex's concealed entrance, they noticed more and more patrols passing by. Thankfully, the two undercover geniuses hadn't been spotted, so they continued as cautiously as they could until they reached a surprisingly empty corridor.

The Hyuuga shot a thumbs-up at the blonde, earning a shrug and a cock of the head from the boy. Noting his nonverbal inquiry, she aimed a finger at a section of the long passage which fell under a particularly harsh shadow. Naruto nodded in acknowledgment and scuffled his way over to the peculiar portion of stone. He pressed his back against the accused wall and took a deep hard look into the darkness, waving Silence over when he determined her beliefs to be true. The girl imitated his movements and hugged the wall, careful to ensure that the modified Yin and Yang didn't scrape against the aged stone.

She glared at the hole with her Byakugan and easily found the entrance- it possessed seals designed to ward off her bloodline, but they were primitive to her intelligent mind. Hinata rushed to the concealed door while unraveling her enormous shaft of a spear, unfolded the double-edged weapon, and then jammed one of the blades in the barely discernable crease between the rock slabs. The blue-haired genius shot a pulse of chakra into the device and retracted it when she saw a pair of guards on the other side tend to the entrance upon feeling her natural energy. Before the barricade opened, however, she stuck her advanced spear into the ground and uncoiled the steel rope around her midsection; she had a plan. Glancing back, the Hyuuga noticed that Curse seemed to inherently understand her meaning- he crouched in the shadows beside her.

The doors opened and the duo sprang into action. Naruto jabbed his slim blade into the first ninja's neck before the enemy's mask was fully revealed while Hinata swiftly subdued the other with her Gentle Fist style of close combat, wrapping the unfortunate shinobi in a death grip with her metal coil. The blonde followed up his silent strike by aiming his elongated bloodied knife at the captured ninja's exposed neck, casually noting that the partitions of Silence's rope had opened and extended, effectively doubling the length of the strange machine.

He also noticed that the genius girl's leather one piece uniform, while loose around the joints, hugged her body underneath her normally concealed lower body. "_Holy mother…_"

"What's down here?" Silence hissed at the captured hostile and received no answer. She tightened the coil and a bone or two somewhere in his body cracked. "Where's the ROOT keep all its documents?"

The Uzumaki added his two cents to the one-sided interrogation. "I don't think he's gonna talk- these guys are supposed to be pretty resilient."

"Well I don't wanna lay down a million miles of wire and wait a month to find out where these guys keep all their secrets," she whispered back. "You got any bright ideas?"

The blonde paused for a moment in consideration then moved his blade to the prone man's crotch, pressing the sharp metal in a bit to let the guy know he meant business. "Answer the question," he ordered quietly.

The masked man struggled to aim his face at the two. "I will tell you nothing- hurgh!" He swallowed his shriek of pain as the Hyuuga prodigy clamped a film-covered palm over his windpipe to prevent him from screaming- Naruto fulfilled his threat of… manly torture.

A few excruciating seconds went by- or minutes, it was hard to tell- and Silence released his throat. "How about now? They're not off yet- a medic can still reattach them…"

"I will not… arg!" Once again his yelps were cut off, and this time his family jewels followed. He went limp from unconsciousness.

"Shitty way to go," Curse commented as he casually ended the emasculated man's life with a punctured throat. "Let's move the bodies…"

"Hang on," she held up a hand in a halting motion while fishing out a tube from her belt, "I've got a better way." With that, she gathered chakra in her mouth and belched forth a small torrent of water- a severely diluted version of the Exploding Water Shockwave technique she attempted that afternoon. Then, utilizing her natural energy once again, she manipulated the particles of liquid to form a sizeable sphere in midair and dumped a mouthful of the canister's gel substance into the airborne ball. Seconds passed as the water began to change color and, when the girl pressed a finger to the sphere and emitted a tiny bolt of electricity, began to smoke as if boiling. "Lemme borrow this," she calmly stated to the blonde, commandeering his elongated knife to slice long vertical slits into the dead men's bodies. After returning the blade she focused her chakra to split the sphere in two and directed each half into the fresh corpses. The fluid obeyed and the figures began to melt from view as the highly acidic substance disintegrated the display of their intrusion.

"Whoa," the Uzumaki's mouth gaped, "That's cool…"

"Best way to dispose of evidence. Now," she stood, "Let's shut these doors before anyone notices…"

--

The hushed whispers of the two intruders echoed down the extensive hive reserved for the ROOT organization. The actual members of said group wouldn't hear them, but a certain porcelain-masked individual could. In fact, it sounded like Curse and Silence were speaking no more than three feet away to him.

The man in the pale mask that hugged his face flexed his fingers in his seated pose; he had taken up position in one of the two abandoned vertical shafts in the crumbling sections of the tunnels. This was still inside the ROOT compound, so his techniques were guaranteed to perform at full capacity while dealing with the geniuses. The notion that he was simply a diversion- a mere disposable pawn- fluttered through the silent man's mind, but he banished such thoughts instantly. It was not his place to question his master's commands; the mastermind knew far more than he.

He brought his hands to the keys of his brilliantly elaborate instrument and gingerly pressed one of the keys. His ears- augmented by the doctor of his organization- easily detected the subtle change in the air's tune and the mysterious command that accompanied it. His marionettes scattered about the ROOT complex straightened to attention in perfect unison.

The masked individual- Phantos, to those who knew him- began playing the melody of which few could hear, instructing his puppets to dance to the unseen melody. In the extreme distance, the Inuzuka family's dogs howled in the night and Garaza cursed up a storm when she was jolted from her network of listening wires.

Tonight's play would most certainly be a performance to remember, and Phantos would be its ghostly conductor.

* * *

What could the fox be talking about (hint: it actually corresponds with the real 'Naruto' storyline)?!

What special powers could this Phantos character possess?!

And just how much ass is Jiraiya kickin?!

The action and overly dramatic... drama... will begin anew next chapter (although that might take a while due to homework).

Now, question to you guys: Would you folks be interested in reading a comic written and drawn (but maybe not inked... I suck at inking) by yours truly? Truth be told, workin' on comics is kinda what I really wanna do, and I think my skills are starting to become good enough to break into it, so... yeah. Just think Hellsing merged with One Piece- a friend of mine actually did equate my style to that comparison, which is hilarious to me because I love Hellsing above all other comics and despise One Piece like no other (grand, eh?).

If I wrote and drew a oneshot story, would you guys read it (not because I asked, either- because you'd like to see something interesting)?

Lemme know. Thanks!

LOVE AND IRISH CAR BOMBS!!


	31. Opera House of Pure Unadulteration!

Yo!

**There's been a quick revision in this chapter closer to the end. For those of you who might be returning, it's near the end with Hinata and Naruto... well, the 'plot twist' scene, if you want to call it that. For those of you just tuning in, read away!**

* * *

Naruto and Hinata moved swiftly through the shadows in complete silence. They had been exploring the newfound tunnels for a mere ten minutes but hadn't come across anything significant; apparently, the ROOT organization didn't keep much in the way of documentation. They hoped they simply hadn't happened upon it yet.

The blonde prodigy stooped at a corner and glanced at the blue-haired girl. She nodded to signify that her active bloodline saw nothing and they rounded the dim hallway with their palms grasping sheathed weapons. Trudging down the corridor, several entrances presented themselves along the way and they took up position around the doors. The Hyuuga peered in with her Byakugan and held up four fingers- the chamber was occupied with a quadrant of slumbering hostiles. Curse nodded then focused some chakra into the floor through his armored sandals and Silence noticed a handful of earth clones rise from the floor on the other side of the wall without a sound. The killing was rapid and quiet- only one voice squealed before the attached throat was pierced. The copies melted into sludge and the dual geniuses entered the moment the chamber was cleared of hostiles.

The place was filled with musty bunks and lockers. "Hey, check it out," the Uzumaki whispered, bobbing his concealed head towards a desk against the far wall, "Let's see if they've got anything."

Hinata approached the simple furniture and analyzed it for traps. Satisfied that it was safe, she slid one of the short cabinets open and unearthed a handful of creased papers while her blonde counterpart observed a smattering of pages tacked to a nearby bulletin board. "Huh," she thought out loud, "This is pretty sloppy for an elite group…"

"Tell me about it," Naruto replied as he flipped through the loose pages against the padded wall, "This isn't organized at all. It's like looking at bounty notices… hey, here's something." He yanked a frayed page from underneath a solid layer of parchment.

"What is it?"

"It's old," he began, "Look at the date."

"A little over three years ago…" she explained in an airy tone as she voiced her thought process.

A few moments passed as the two continued to read the aged addendum. "What's the 'strongmen'?" Curse wondered aloud.

"Dunno," she shrugged, moved back to the desk, and continued shuffling through the scattered papers. Most of the documents were insignificant- much of it merely consisted of continuously updated inventories. She opened the deeper cabinet of the desk, extracted an armful of files, and began flipping through them to scan their contents. "Wow, these are old," she commented, "We weren't even born yet."

"How old?"

"The most recent goes back twenty years." She shut the aged folder and slapped a palm on the stack. "These are old troop movements of all of Konoha's ninjas. They're obsolete by now, but this means Danzo's probably been monitoring everyone this long. Think you can store this?"

The blonde smirked and opened the crimson outer jacket, revealing the system of seals embroidering the sturdy fabric. "Leave it to me," he assured as he pressed a portion of the clothing over the pile, bit his thumb to add a drop of blood to the mark, and stored the incriminating documents into the sewn seal.

"Since those are old," Hinata figured, "There're probably newer documents hanging around somewhere."

"You're probably right." He briefly glanced around the room. "But they're not here. There might be a main office or archive somewhere."

"Yeah," she affirmed the assumption, "Let's go find it."

"Will do." The blonde teen opened the door to step outside; taking a quick look to ensure it was safe to exit. He nodded in satisfaction and began moving down the dark corridor with the Hyuuga in tow, falling back so his female counterpart could lead the way with her superior vision guiding their path.

Silence did so without any goading or provocation; the masked duo moved swiftly through the ROOT hive system unabated. Hinata noticed that the crisscrossing halls increased in density near what appeared to be an abandoned shaft similar in design to the Hub nearest her hidden lab. "_If there's anything here, it'll be there…_" After a while of her Byakugan piercing the dirt and darkness, she finally found a cluster of interconnected rooms in the midst of several prominent tunnels. Focusing further, she saw that these chambers were of great importance- weapon lockers, scroll racks, and multitudes of tin filing cabinets filled the spaces in an orderly yet claustrophobic mess. She stopped at yet another corner and nodded to the blonde at her six while aiming a finger in the general direction of their quarry.

Naruto chose this moment to voice a nagging concern. "Hey," he leaned into her ear and whispered as lowly as possible, "Where is everyone?"

She peered in every direction she could with her advanced vision then shrugged apprehensively. Truthfully, she was glad that they had encountered so little resistance, but something didn't add up. "It's hard to see through everything down here," she replied quietly, "There's too much stuff in the way."

The boy nodded and said, "Alright, let's take advantage of it while we can…"

"Right," she moved forward. "_But that doesn't mean I have to like it…_"

--

Homura hit the floor and was instantly held in place by a dozen arms. His captors proved to be quite strong and in sync to an unnatural degree- he couldn't budge an inch. Of course, the fact that he was a little woozy only added to his situation, but there was nothing he could do about that. The gag was extracted from his mouth but the blindfold remained in place. "What is this?!" he demanded, "Where am I?!" His reply came in the form of mumbling, tipping him off that he was next to somebody in a similar position.

"Homura?!" Koharu addressed her former squad mate as her own mouth was freed from its confines, "Is that you?!"

"Koharu?! What's going on here?!" With that, the cloth over the remainder of his face was lifted and his eyes met the steel-plated boots of a smug individual. "Who are you?!"

The young man dressed in incredibly thick clothes that should have impeded his movement chuckled as he casually leaned forward and yanked the elderly woman's aural binding away before taking a wide-legged seat on the chair before them. "Ah, my name's not really that important," he stated with an uneasy smile.

"Why did you do this to us?!" Koharu commanded. She was also held down by a multitude of limbs. "Do you know who we are?!" she threatened, briefly wondering if a kunai would pierce the fabric of the man's clothing without the aid of chakra.

"You betchya," the confident man replied with an ever-present grin as he opened a file pulled from a tabletop. "Koharu and Homura," he read aloud, "Elders of the Advisory Council of the Hokage of Konoha."

"Then you know how much power we have!" the aged man spat, "Release us now and I'll reconsider your immediate execution!"

He laughed lightly. "Well… there's a bit of a problem with that one. You see," he discarded the document, "I don't take orders from you guys."

The gears in the elderly woman's mind turned. "Did Danzo send you?!"

"Danzo?" he chuckled, "Certainly not! Although…" He aimed an unconcerned finger above them, presumably towards the men who held them in place. "These _are_ his boys. Gotta say," he stood slowly, "You two put up one hell of a fight. Lost a few of these guys at your places…"

"What do you want with us?" she calmed herself a bit. Perhaps this stranger was open to reason- he didn't appear to be a megalomaniacal killer. "Perhaps we can negotiate."

"Oh, but we will," he replied pleasantly and snapped his fingers. The captured elders were pulled to their knees to find the room lined with ROOT agents- all of whom were arranged in perfect patterns, including the ones that restrained their mobility.

Homura's eyes narrowed. "What is it you want?" He was suspicious; why would this man kidnap them in the dead of night and hold them in this manner if all he desired was simple bargaining? "You must have some ulterior motive…"

"I don't, but the boss man does." He turned to the smattering of attentive masked ninjas behind him and said, "Bring them in."

"Your boss?" the old woman repeated, "Who is your superior? Is it Tsunade?!" Her voice rose when she considered that the Hokage might have been privy to the duo's scheming.

"Tsunade?" he responded, turning a questioning eye to her before reluctantly shaking his head. "No, but… well, I guess so, in a real… convoluted… way."

"What do you mean?" she arched an eyebrow.

The rank of ROOT agents parted in unison for two full squads of silent shinobi carrying a pair of human sized pods of some sort. The masked escorts gingerly placed the smooth machines on the floor, imitating the others' movements perfectly before falling back in line without a word.

"What are those?" Homura inquired apprehensively.

"You'll see," he stated with a smile before unceremoniously kicking the lids of the devices to the side and retracting a three inch thick manual of some sort. After that, he placed the book on the table, rotated his hands in strange configurations before snapping them back and thrusting his open palms before the confined conspirators' faces. Before they could speak, a cold odorless gas shot through tiny tubes woven into the thick fabric of the sleeves, prompting Koharu and Homura to lose consciousness and go limp in the arms of the mysteriously silent ROOT members.

"Let 'em down, Phantos," the unnamed individual seemingly spoke to no one before the masked ninjas obeyed; they gingerly laid the now unresisting duo on the ground. "Kinda wish the Doc would do this himself," the stranger complained as he propped the manual open in one hand while pulling a bizarre piece of handheld medical equipment from the open pods with the other, "Okay, what's first? Imbedded memories? Nah, that's hard… save that one for last…" His falsely benevolent eyes scanned the next few pages as he flipped through the document. "Ah! Here we go- retractable arm blades… that looks easy…"

--

Danzo awoke to an inexplicable sense of worry; something was wrong, but he couldn't put a finger on it. In an attempt to alleviate his sudden stress, he embarked on a brief stroll through his modest home and immediately understood why he was on edge.

"_Where are my subordinates?_" he wondered, "_There is always at least one squad keeping watch over me should something go wrong. Where are they?_" Calm footsteps interrupted his train of thought; someone was approaching, and whoever it was wasn't concerned about stealth. The old war hawk prepared for a confrontation when a young woman emerged from the shadows. "_Is she friend of foe…?_" he pondered apprehensively, wondering why she appeared so twitchy.

She was a sleek female somewhere in her early twenties with muddy silver hair that was shorn on the sides yet reached down her back in a ponytail. Her equally colorless eyes were blank while every ounce of flesh below the nose save her hands was concealed by multiple overlapping layers of a strange fabric that seemed to absorb all illumination like a sponge in water. Strapped to her back was a device comprised of smoothly crafted wood and steel rims that ran along the length of the supposed weapon after protruding from a mechanism of some sort near the curved portion of the wood. She halted stiffly before him without blinking, focusing his attention to the ugly tattoo marks that squiggled over her flesh and ended in a cross pattern around her eyes.

"And you are…?" he greeted cautiously.

Her head twitched as if receiving a mild jolt. "Number- number twenty-three."

He though it odd how she repeated a word; she didn't appear introverted. In fact, Danzo was impressed- he detected no signs of inherent emotion from the stranger. "_If she was in the ROOT program, she would be a template for all its members._" Striking his inner observations to the side, he continued. "What are you doing here?"

"I have been assigned- assigned to inform constituent Danzo- Danzo of the agreement's progress." Her body convulsed momentarily with every repetition.

"The… agreement?" he inquired in such a way as to convey his understanding of the contract with the unnamed shadow that led the organization that would guarantee his power over Konoha. "What is its progress?"

"It proceeds smoothly- smoothly."

He arched an eyebrow. "That can't be all… is there more?"

"We have reached the point- point where proactive efforts are being taken- taken to ensure completion of the agreement- agreement."

"_Proactive efforts?_" he wondered. "I see. Is that all?" Number twenty-three nodded once in affirmation. "What happened to my men?"

"Resources are currently being redirected- redirected."

"You didn't answer my question," he grew annoyed with these trite responses, "What happened to my men?"

"I shall- shall be your bodyguard while your subordinates- subordinates are unavailable," she replied with her trademark twitch and wide eyes.

The war hawk's anger mounted; how dare his faceless partner in crime take possession or otherwise utilize his forces! "You listen to me…!" he raised a hand to aim an accusatory finger at the messenger but halted when she passively retaliated. Before his arm even reached the halfway point, her corresponding appendage moved in the blink of an eye and held a smaller version of the weapon strapped to her back at his face.

"My skills are enough- enough," she claimed lifelessly, "To guarantee your safety due to the terms- terms of the agreement."

"Who… what are you?" He couldn't believe her level of speed.

"We are the Gene Hunters," she replied without stuttering. With that, she holstered the wood and steel device and dashed for cover in a flash, leaving behind a wide-eyed Danzo.

The aged war hawk massaged his temples after a bout of staring after the shadows in which twenty-three vanished. Was he finally getting too old for this? How was this 'number twenty-three' so far ahead of him? "_And what are these 'Gene Hunters?_"

--

For the umpteenth time, Naruto snuck around a corner before Hinata. The blue-haired genius already profusely confirmed the absence of inhabitants in the crowded sets of chambers, but a knot in the blonde's stomach told him otherwise. So with that in mind, the boy took point; after all, he was slightly more attuned to close quarters combat than the Hyuuga. But per usual, there was no resistance; the place was devoid of life and instead brimming with junk- or at least it would appear that way to anyone who didn't know what to look for. The Uzumaki nodded in satisfaction and motioned to the female teen that the coast was clear.

Silence moved into the largest of the clustered rooms with a palm over her holstered energy weapon, but the hand left the device after several seconds when she found no inanimate traps lying in wait. She moved towards a gathering of tin cabinets and began systematically filing through them in search of serious incriminating evidence while her companion rifled through the weapon lockers to liberate the ANBU agents of their stockpiles. The girl smirked behind her steel visage after noticing Naruto filling small storage scrolls and setting them aside one after another as he went through them like a snake through guppies.

"Anything yet?" the blonde genius inquired while keeping his azure eyes glued to the task at hand.

"Found some more files on troop movements," she answered, tossing the relevant documentation into a pile as she came across them, "Recent ones, too."

"How recent?" He yanked a general order from the opening of the next locker, scrutinized it, and then crumpled it.

"Earliest is two months- hello… What's this?"

"What's up?" Naruto merely spared her a glance before sealing an entire rack of scrolls in one bout.

"This one's got their internal assignments…" she explained absentmindedly while scanning the file, "Looks like they had a sudden drop in membership too, if these figures mean anything."

He halted, frowned, and stared at her. "Really? When was this?"

"About three years ago." This puzzled the Hyuuga…

… And concerned the Uzumaki. "Exactly how long ago?"

"Um… around the time we were fighting the Sound army down here."

Curse cocked a head in thought; he no longer felt so secure, even for being deep within enemy territory.

Silence interrupted his internal debate, her own worries much the same. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah," he nodded while scrambling to seal the final necessities for transport, "Let's get out of here." His female counterpart agreed and he quickly strolled to the door, assuming his friend's silence to mean her Byakugan detected no nearby enemies.

He didn't know that she hadn't activated her bloodline yet.

The blonde swung the chamber door open with full confidence and was instantly met with a throng of perfectly erect masked ANBU members who glared blankly at him in the disturbingly still air. Only one thing came to mind before the shit hit the fan.

"_Crap…_"

--

The lights of the monitors flickered next to the cushy operating table in one of the many labs deep underneath Konoha. The perpetually bored surgeon who hailed to the mysterious mastermind of the plot alongside Danzo's intentions glanced around in annoyance. "Damn it," he swore quietly while tapping a cracked screen, "I told Phantos this crap was sensitive." Silently cursing his coworker's methods, he sighed at the masked man's techniques screwing with his medical devices. "Why's this stuff gotta be so damn sensitive to vibrations…?"

He halted his grumbled musings and gaped upon noticing the current subject on the table cracking its eyes; it was far too early for the newest product to awake! The mildly disfigured form turned its head ever so slightly and glared at its creator with a weary gaze.

"You shouldn't be awake!" the Doctor scrambled to locate more anesthetics; Phantos's methods must have somehow prematurely triggered the surrounding machines' reanimation cycle.

The figure's mouth creaked open and hot air misted through the dry flesh. "Where…" the man spoke in a hushed whisper, "Am… I…?"

For once, the bloodied surgeon couldn't believe his eyes; the experiment's internal organs weren't fully healed yet, throat included. The fact that this man was simply conscious was incredible, but the subject speaking was tantamount to a miracle. It revealed volumes regarding the sheer resilience of the man's will alongside his inhuman resistance to pain.

"Relax," the false man of medicine regained his composure upon finding the desired drugs, "You're going to sleep for a while longer." He injected the hefty syringe into the patient's arm.

"Don't… want… to sleep…" his eyes fluttered as consciousness fled at the onset of the foreign substances, "Want to… fight…"

When the experiment succumbed to slumber, the doctor sighed. This subject was three years in the making, and if the leader's promises held any water then it would finally be completed inside of a month. "Geez," the faux surgeon picked an ear as he returned to his instruments, "This guy'll be the most badass Gene Hunter to date. Wonder whose brain the boss told me use…?" He struck the inquiry that haunted him from his mind; what did he care about a personality within a recycled brain from cryostasis?

--

"Silence!" Naruto called as he twisted in midair to plant an armored geta sandal into another oncoming mask, "What do you see?!"

"They're everywhere!" Hinata returned while twirling her unfolded spear and sending electrified droplets in all directions. "They weren't here a minute ago!" A pair of the masked hostiles descended upon her with a sword in each hand and she activated Yin and Yang's electromagnetic field. The ensuing wave of repelling energy shot the steel weapons away along with their users who somehow didn't break their grips.

The Uzumaki swore under his breath as he unsealed countless salvos of shuriken against the enemy shinobi to little avail. A quartet of masked ROOT ninjas took the full brunt of the attack to shield the others, but it didn't slow them down in the least. Peppered with glistening ninja stars, the combatants lunged forth in perfect unison and form, their arms outstretched to embrace their target in a bladed embrace.

The blonde countered the oncoming foursome by switching places with a nearby earth clone, leaping forward, and bending his knees inward in order to plow his armored feet into the center two. The others swung around him in a rapid flanking maneuver, only latch on to a human-sized column of dense mud sparkling with imbedded explosive tags.

The Hyuuga didn't need to glance at the source of the sudden conflagration; her superior eyesight saw in all directions simultaneously. Her modified shaft spun from its center on her wrist as she danced in a manner befitting her family name; the blades on either end whistling through the air as they clashed with hostile weaponry and deflected them with brilliant sparks. The veritable sphere created through the constant graceful flailing of her elongated armament slowed when its wielder noticed her enemies reconsider engagement and circle her like a pack of lions around a wounded calf. An idea struck her and she brought her free hand to her face to initiate a special technique while continuing to hold the combatants at bay with her other limb. The spear became visible as its velocity lowered and the ring of hostiles rushed in to confront the girl…

Only to convulse as fist-sized orbs of water glowing with lethal electricity slithered off Hinata's armor and splashed onto them. The lightning coursed through their veins and they stood stagnant for a moment before succumbing to death and falling to their knees.

But Silence had no time to revel in her victory; a hail of kunai tagged with explosive paper flew her way. She dove into the standard defense of her family's repertoire and sent the incoming metal away, only to have them engulf the nearby stone surfaces in fire. The blue-haired girl curled into a ball so her armor could protect her from the flames… but it was still damn hot.

"Silence!" the blonde called from his position. He was coming to the same conclusion as his ally; every clone he created was disposed of rather quickly, many weapons were expended with unsatisfactory results, and nothing short of an instantly fatal blow would even slow the combatants down. "Are you okay?!"

She emerged from the fireball, shards of stone having scorned her body through the exposed portions of her leather underclothing and the edges of the heavy steel plating and grills adorning her frame glimmering with heat. Her limbs trembled as she ran her fingers through a rapid succession of seals and dowsed herself with a torrent of liquid sucked from the surrounding environment. "Yeah," she coughed from the dry air flowing through her lungs, "We gotta retreat!" She hated to admit it, but there were simply too many enemies who were too coordinated and the intelligent pair possessed no information about how these enemies functioned. "Let's go!"

Rather than reply verbally, the blonde leapt into action, tossing arm-sized shuriken in various directions to clear a path. The ROOT members easily dodged around the weapons or batted them aside without pause, only expending a few extra heartbeats in doing so. But such time was welcome to the fleeing duo- they charged hell-bent through the throngs of enemies descending upon them.

Hinata twisted in mid-stride to aim her eyes at the fellow teen behind her; Curse was doing his best to hold off the following hostiles, but any clones he created were dispersed in what would amount to suicide attacks, should said advances actually result in mutual fatality. The organized crowds of ROOT members didn't seem vulnerable to physical ailments other than death. Grimacing behind her visage, she ran her hands through a series of seals and yelled, "Curse, duck!"

The blonde obeyed and flattened against the floor as the female prodigy thrust her hands forward and invoked dual streams of water. The strings of liquid spun around her arms as they increased in size before spiraling forward in a small vortex of fluid and crashing into the pursuers. Unable to withstand the pure force of the technique, the hostiles were flung back through the corridor as said hall was drenched.

"Thanks!" Naruto shouted before realizing that the Hyuuga left her back open. He righted himself, threw his arms to the forefront, and molded his chakra to manipulate the dry, hot wind. "_Gotta weaken this technique so I don't hurt Hinata…_" he observed, checking his reserves to achieve the desired results. His patented 'Nine Tornados' kicked into action and a harsh whirlwind began gusting from his body. He flexed his extended fingers, guiding the sudden cyclone around the girl before him and directing it down the hallway slowly filling with hostiles. The horizontal twister slammed into the ROOT agents and flung them back through the elongated corridor while carving harsh gashes into the granite walls.

"Oh…" Hinata was speechless, "Cool…" The instant the technique subsided she continued down the cleared opening and proceeded to navigate the maze they had gotten themselves into. Her Byakugan noticed the object of her affections following after her while slapping explosive tags with longer fuses to the walls in order to cover their escape.

The ensuing explosion marked the beginning of blurred events that ultimately led to the dual geniuses exiting the compound. The prodigies rushed like panicked rats through the maze of corridors, the Hyuuga's advanced eyes detecting a frightening amount of enemies pouring from every nook and cranny like roaches after the apocalypse. But she needed not voice every viewing of combatants- it wouldn't have made a lick of difference. Besides, Naruto was doing his best to counter the showers of iron with his own sealed steel weaponry. She smiled upon determining that the blonde was aiming to protect her from the onslaught, although she immediately squelched the rising affection in favor of surviving this nightmare. "_These guys are crawling out of the woodwork! Geez, I didn't think the ROOT had this many members!_"

After a harrowing handful of minutes, the duo finally located the heavy gates which served as both an entrance and exit to the tunnel complex. Hinata moved to the side to allow Curse to tackle the doors. She might have sported more muscle than many of her fellow females, but the blonde was naturally predisposed to be physically stronger. As he pounded the weighty slabs open, Silence spun her unfolded staff to deflect all the oncoming projectiles, frowning when a ring of kunai dug into the stone just short of her rotating weapon. They all started sparkling and she spun on her heel. "Exploding tags!"

Naruto responded in the blink of an eye and grabbed the teen in a tight embrace. The knives exploded in a massive conflagration and showered the two in hot stone and blistering steel slivers. "Fuck!" the blonde screamed as he retracted his hands to extract the searing shrapnel. "Shit, this burns!"

"C'mon!" Hinata urged him through the gates now that the explosion forced them open. "_He might need medical attention, and this sure as hell isn't the place for it!_" Helping the boy limp away, she detached a thumb-sized device from the back of the energy weapon's holster, flipped a switch on it, and tossed it to the ground between the doors. "Run!" She reserved this tiny explosive for special occasions only; its ingredients and electrical parts were horrifically expensive, extremely rare, and insanely difficult to construct. Right now though, escaping was far more important than hanging on to a costly bomb.

The blonde complied with stiff arms and ran like hell alongside the blue-haired girl, stumbling when a violet flash of thunderous flames rocked the tiled stone floor. His breathing quickened when he began systematically yanking the shrapnel from his arms, and the Hyuuga graced her soft fingers over the mildly burned flesh to heal his injuries.

"Thanks," he mumbled, enjoying the gentle touch from the girl he admired.

"No problem," she answered while keeping pace with him. "Let's just get back to my lab for now. We need to cover our tracks before those guys dig through the rubble."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

--

Two hours later, the dual geniuses sat in relative safety in Hinata's private chamber. Both prodigies had gone over the events of the evening and decided that their findings should make their way to Anko and, eventually, Tsunade. Naruto scratched his arm; his recent injuries- now completely healed thanks to the fox- itched like crazy.

"You know, you heal really fast," the Hyuuga commented innocently, changing the subject. "I've never seen anything like it…"

The blonde's mood fell; the blue-haired teen's remark struck a chord. "_Well, it's now or never._" He took a deep breath, stared intently into the petite girl's eyes, and spoke quietly. "Hinata, there's something I need to tell you."

"Hm?" This caught her attention; he was nervously serious. "What is it?"

"It's about… um…" he scratched the back of his head, "It's kinda about that… you know the story of the nine-tailed fox, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "What about it?"

"Well… er… it was… never killed. The fourth Hokage managed to seal it away and it cost him his life."

She frowned. "Really? What happened?"

He eased into a deeply hesitant explanation about what happened that night, or at least as much as he could conjecture. He believed he made it abundantly clear that he wasn't the demon itself, but this was a testy issue for him. It wasn't easy for him to bring it up at all, and if there was ever one person who was guaranteed to accept him as he was, he prayed it to be her.

Naruto was like any other man. To be sure, he was extremely intelligent and possessed top-notch fighting and sealing skills, but at the end of the day he was susceptible to normal human emotions. Feelings such as love, anger, sorrow, and disappointment were very much a part of him, and there lied his weakest aspect: the fox caged behind his soul. Whenever the malevolent monster was involved, the blonde's mind weakened and his emotions flailed in irrationality; the very reason he hid his true self from the village originated from the fox's presence within him. In a way, he was paranoid when matters pertaining to the demon's existence were concerned, especially when it came to others' perceptions of him should they become aware of the beast.

And it didn't help matters that Hinata was important to him. He had agonized over this moment for so long out of fear that there was the possibility she would reject him based on circumstances beyond his control, and that very notion scared him. "_Please God,_" he uttered a silent prayer to heaven, "_Please don't let me lose her! Only her, that's all I ask! The rest of the world can reject me, but please let her accept me!_"

Meanwhile, said Hyuuga took it all in with ever-widening eyes. "_That's it!_" she finally pieced it all together, "_His healing abilities, his bottomless chakra! It all makes sense now!_" Her sharp mind began recalling every instance where he pulled his naturally energy from nowhere and how his extensive wounds, both serious and inconsequential, would heal as if by magic. The tail end of those memories made her wonder about how all that extra chakra could be invoked seemingly at will, and that led her to ponder who- or what- Naruto was.

Sadly for both of them, this extreme irrationality and overt logic left the Uzumaki quietly calling Hinata's name. "Hinata?" he asked in a low tone outside her field of inattentive vision. "Hinata?" He had experience this trancelike state before, but the girl never told him it was habitual. Besides, a few attempts of speaking to her usually snapped her out of it, but not this instance; his voice grew quieter with each vocal outburst rather than louder. "Hinata, please answer me…"

"Naruto," the girl finally replied with a blank gaze into the void, "Can you be sure?"

This was it; the moment of truth or despair. "Be sure of what?"

"That it's permanently sealed away?"

"Yes," he grimaced, "It can't escape." Sadly, he didn't know this for sure; he recalled one moment in particular that he didn't clearly remember: killing the freak known as Mosh-Mosh when he and Silence were cornered. The death of that combatant was a blank slate in his mind, and all the evidence pointed to the fox.

"Then what about its chakra?"

"That's… uh…"

"I know you can use it." Her eyes still stared into nothingness. "You use it all the time to heal, and in order to do that its chakra has to be deposited in your system. What keeps it from just taking over?"

"It's not going to!" his voice rose with desperation and his eyes felt warm with moisture.

"Naruto," she turned her head and addressed him before glancing at the floor, "That's… I can't be sure about that. I mean… what if the seal suddenly fails?"

"But it won't!" His cheeks felt wet.

"You don't know that. I'm sorry, but… I need some time to think about this." For the moment, she felt that she had to get the teen out of there; it was frightening that he possessed an unstoppable danger that could come forth at any time.

"Hinata," the blonde pleaded by grasping the girl's shoulders to make her look at him. That failed, but he continued anyway. "I'm still the same person, I'm still me…"

She finally glanced at him, a string of fear dowsed in sadness. "How can you be sure of that either? If the fox can circulate its chakra in you, then what keeps it from influencing what you think?"

"It can't do that!" That's what he said, but the ever- logical portion of his mind knew he couldn't prove it.

"How do you know?" her face snapped to his, matching beads of moisture in the corners of her eyes. Her pale eyes shimmered in the dull light and she looked away dejectedly. "I'm… I'm so sorry Naruto, but… I just don't know enough about this and… it scares me…" She felt his arms fall away and took a deep breath. "I need time to think about this…"

The Uzumaki nodded in understanding, but his emotions were anything but. He sluggishly made his way from the room while holding his head down so his bangs hid his eyes as best they could. His greatest fear had come to pass, and it was all he could do to keep from bawling away; Hinata was the most important person to him, and now she was gone.

He stalked out of the room while holding back a watery onslaught. His hands trembled as he undid the locks on the large steel door and he slammed the hatch shut before running home as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Hey," Garaza poked her head in with a cocked eyebrow, "Curse just ran outta here without even sayin' goodbye. Kinda looked like he was tearin' up too- hey, what's wrong?"

Silence's slim hands were cupped over her mouth and her pale eyes watered. "_I'm so sorry, Naruto…_" she thought, equally saddened that she was no longer involved with the blonde. The male teen knew everything about her and now she knew everything about him… and it terrified her. She wanted so badly to believe in his words- that it was safe to be around him… but there were no guarantees, and a primal instinct deep within her soul told her to stray from the danger. In that singular moment, she cursed every emotion housed in her bodily frame for making her care so much about someone so hazardous. Her hands moved over her eyes and she knelt on her elbows to pitifully hide the fact that her tears grew in strength. "It's nothing, Garaza…" she choked on the lie, "It's nothing…"

--

Naruto sat with his back to the wall of his private chamber, head huddled into his knees. He desperately attempted to stem the tide of salty water that begged for release, struggling with the conceived notion that Hinata had rejected him with her silence despite all rational thought. A few tears finally forced their hand and slowly trickled down his cheeks, but he resisted with a few choked cries.

Said sounds attracted Shia's attention. She poked her head out of her room when the muffled noises emanated from the blonde and cocked her head at his unusual behavior. "Curse," she began with a tinge of worry, "What's wrong?"

He didn't respond verbally. Rather, he took several deep breaths and straightened his legs; he could only pretend to be strong now. But try as he might, he simply couldn't pull off such bravado. The result was a sniffling Uzumaki who sat with his legs akimbo and watery eyes that stared at nothing as they blinked the tears inward.

This concerned Shia and she approached the teen. "What's the matter?" She repeated, growing more concerned at her figurehead's withdrawn actions. She reached his feet and knelt to level her face with his, stifling a gasp when she found her hero's visage contorted in overwhelming sadness that had once been a part of her. "What's wrong?" She leaned forward.

The younger girl's presence prompted the blonde's overflowing emotions to break; he shot his arms out and enveloped the auburn-haired girl in a tight embrace. Truthfully, it could have been anyone in front of him; right now he desired nothing more than close physical contact. His chin rested harshly on her shoulder and, for the second time in his life, his soul practically exited his body through his tears. The only time he had wept so hard was when he initially discovered the fox housed within him so many years ago.

At first Shia was shocked. Her mind and body froze upon the observation that Curse held her in such an intimate matter. It then noted his behavior; he was crying hard- as hard if not more when she was younger. Then the realization finally sunk in. "_He's in pain…_" she concluded, "_The same kind of pain I went through…_"

Working purely on instinct, the brown-haired girl wrapped her own arms around the blonde and closed her soft eyes. Internally, she was conflicted. On the one hand she empathized with the teen and felt his sorrow; she had gone through similar strife in her own life many times and wished no such sadness on her savior. But on the other hand she felt a bit of happiness that she could be there for him this time around. "_I can finally do something for him,_" she thought, stroking his unruly hair with a gentle hand while saying nothing.

And so this episode continued for what seemed an eternity. Naruto's tears would dry intermittently but he refused to release Shia from the embrace; at the moment, she served as the only form of comfort for him. What seemed like hours passed and he eventually cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Who is Phantos?!

Who are the Gene Hunters?!

And what's gonna happen to Naruto and Hinata?!

**Alright, now: a big shout out to someone who goes by 'logan' on this site! Thanks, dude! I appreciate all your excellent help!! You rock more than pizza and rum. And knowing how much I love rum, that's saying a lot... **


	32. Getting On With Life! Grief and Fear!

Yo! Sorry for the long wait, but life is getting busy again.

**Read this! You'll be lost if you don't! Now that I've got your attention, there's been a slight rewrite on the last chapter. Not much has been rewritten, but it changes the story in a BIG way, so if you don't want to be lost, dazed, and confused, go back and read it. (Hint: it's the scene in Hinata's lab. You know the one...)**

Many thanks to 'logan' for the help in the rewrite. You rock, man!

* * *

The next morning, Naruto found himself in a daze that refused to dissipate. He awoke several hours ago with a snoozing Shia in his arms and figured the younger girl stayed with him the entire night. For the briefest of moments, a tiny smile escaped his lips; he was grateful for the auburn-haired girl being there for him, especially since she didn't understand the situation.

That thought struck him as he silently prepared a breakfast of instant ramen: should he tell Shia about the fox? He couldn't bear the notion that she might reject him as well, but he also knew that she saw him differently. To Hinata, he was an equal- someone who stood toe-to-toe with her in most categories. But to Shia, he figured he was some kind of sibling figure, or at least some kind of family; no matter what he did or who he was, he was stuck with her for better or for worse. A blast of steam slapped him and he broke that train of thought; it was too depressing to consider at the moment.

He finished an armful of the instant noodles and set them on the table before taking a seat with an aimless gaze. Across him sat the preteen in question. The Uzumaki spared her a quick glance and found her returning stare filled with… empathy? Remembrance? He couldn't tell anymore, so he dug into his meal for the perfect distraction.

"Curse," the girl began softly, "Do you… want to talk about last night…?"

He sighed and swallowed. "No," he shook his head, "Not right now, Shia."

She twitched for a moment and her eyes shifted into those of her second personality. "How about me?"

"No." He repeated his moroseness with another shovelful of ramen. "I don't want to talk about it."

The girl's eyes softened and Shia regained control before nodding. She said nary a word and returned to eating, but her mind was brimming. "_I know he'll talk to me when he's ready, but I can't stand to see him like this! I know whatever it is, it probably has to do with Silence… but what could it be?_"

The two finished the cheap meal in silence and the blonde grumbled something about meeting Kakashi and engaging in some specialized training. The disturbed girl perked up ever so slightly when he mentioned this, tossed the trash away, and began cleaning the kitchen as if she had done it every day of her life.

Naruto noted her willing generosity with blank eyes as he gathered up the necessary belongings and made for the door. But before he could leave the small apartment, he glanced back at the preteen and found her gazing at him again. "Shia," his voice carried desperate hollowness, "I don't know how long I'll be gone."

"That's fine." Her head bobbed with a content smile; she didn't mind that the blonde didn't know his schedule- she'd wait for him as long as it took. "I'll be here when you get back."

He nodded then pried the door open. "Shia," he added with a sad smile, "Thanks."

She returned the gesture and replied, "Happy to do it." When the object of her affections finally departed, she returned to her daily 'duties' of cleaning the place while an internal debate raged between her conflicting consciousnesses.

"_Come on,_" Aiya stated within her mind, "_You're not thinking of taking this lying down, are you?_"

"_He doesn't want to talk about it right now,_" Shia retorted, "_When he's ready, he'll tell me what's bothering him._"

This didn't satisfy the aggressive personality. "_And what about all those times he was there for us- you?_" she corrected herself, "_He didn't exactly leave you alone, did he?_"

The dominant personality mulled this over for a moment and interpreted that phrase in its own way, offering Shia an embarrassing yet appropriate solution that would repay the blonde prodigy for his kindness when she went through her ordeals. "_I… I just want him to be happy…_"

If Aiya had lips, they'd have been cracked in her trademark cocky grin. "_Don't we all?_"

--

Hinata slumped through the morning; she felt miserable. She wanted nothing more than to forget the previous night and have everything go back to normal, but that was the one thing that couldn't happen. "_Why'd he have to be so dangerous?_" she asked the heavens, "_Why did you give me someone only to take him away?_"

She didn't have any missions that day, and that only made matters worse; there was nothing to occupy her time. For a while she contemplated venturing back into the ROOT compound but eventually decided against it. She wasn't stupid- alone, she would fall to the seemingly possessed agents of Danzo. She would need help. "_But who's left?_" she wondered mournfully, preferring Naruto but knowing that he was just as if not more dangerous than the hostile shinobi. Emotions of dejection flooding her soul, she wandered aimlessly through the village in search of a friendly face. Sadly, these were few and far between, but even she was surprised by the person who would alleviate her sorrow.

"Hey! It's you, uh… Hinata, right?"

The Hyuuga glanced at the individual. "T-Temari? You're back in Konoha so soon?"

"Yeah," she sounded embarrassed for whatever reason, "We're having some problems in Suna and I'm here to personally request assistance from the Hokage."

"Problems?" she repeated, praying to anyone listening that this could be the distraction she desired.

The Sand ninja nodded. "A few disappearances that we can't figure out."

She frowned; this sounded interesting. "Why would you need Konoha's help? If they're just disappearances, t-then it shouldn't be an issue too big for you…"

Temari shook her head. "A member of the village council was involved. He disappeared one night along with his bodyguards."

Her pale eyes lit up. "T-that's big!"

"I know," she sighed, "And we can't figure it out. Anyone who gets assigned to investigate it disappears for a day or two then shows up wandering outside the village walls."

"I-I see…"

The Sand sibling took a deep breath to clear her concerns. "Enough about me though, what's up with you? Haven't seen you since your mission to Suna. Anything new happen?"

"_She had to ask…_" Thoughts of the dangerous blonde came to mind and she tried to squash them. "N-no, nothing worth mentioning…"

"Hey…" a thought struck the foreign ninja as she strolled alongside the distraught Hyuuga, "You wanna help us out if the Hokage'll let you?"

Hinata forced a humble smile. "Certainly." She was confident that Tsunade would allow several Konoha ninjas to assist their allies. So with that in mind, she accompanied the traveling teen to the slug Sannin and bowed politely when her prediction came true. Naruto and his tenant took a back seat in her mind, but thoughts of the blonde would still haunt her in her desperation.

As the Hyuuga exited the office, she passed the advisors Koharu and Homura with a polite nod that wasn't even returned with eye contact. It was rude, but Hinata contained her outburst in favor of her fresh assignment. For a moment, she wondered why the elderly ninja were visiting Tsunade in her office; they always summoned her to a more comfortable locale. "_Tsunade's strong though,_" she consoled her doubts, "_Besides, they're counselors under her command. They're supposed to answer to her…_"

--

Tsunade sat at her desk in apprehension; what was going on in Suna? "_Why do I have so many problems?! Is it not enough that I'm stuck with a conspirator with a private army and an organization that's targeting the nine demons for some reason?!_" She lamented over her proverbial plate, wishing that this entrée of issues would go away. That bottle of sake Shizune missed looked pretty tempting about now…

But she checked the motion; there was still business to be done. Sai was due to pay her office a visit today due to Kakashi's report of the boy being mysteriously stoned two days ago. She would have seen him sooner, but Koharu and Homura seemed unusually determined to waste her time with mostly inane prattle regarding the village's safety and future security measures. "_Damn fossils,_" she whined inwardly, "_I'm the one who's supposed to be calling the shots around here, not them!_"

Before her mental rant could accelerate, the expected teen entered the room with calm uncharacteristic even for him. The blonde Hokage glared at the pale boy when he unceremoniously halted before her desk and regarded her with lifeless eyes that resembled a ceramic doll's cold gaze. "_Strange, he's not even trying to crack that fake smile of his…_"

"You requested my presence, lord Hokage?" he stated flatly.

"Yes," she replied without breaking eye contact, "Kakashi told me that two days ago you and Sakura were drugged. I haven't had time to analyze a blood sample, but from what he told me, you ingested some kind of mild hallucinogen or sedative. Maybe both." She took a breath, wishing she could meet the individual who could concoct such a combination of chemicals. "Do you remember anything?"

"No ma'am."

"Any faces?"

"No ma'am."

"Any voices? Did anyone ask you anything?"

"No ma'am." His robotic voice began to wear on the aged medic's patience.

The slug mistress rubbed her eyes to ward off the impending headache of annoyance. "Alright," she continued, deciding to switch gears, "You have disassociated yourself with Danzo, correct?"

A slight pause ensued. Perhaps that meant something? "Yes ma'am."

"Glad to hear that. Then you wouldn't mind telling me where the ROOT base is."

He nodded mechanically. "Do you have a map?"

Her eyes narrowed at his willingness to assist in the downfall of his supposedly former employer's operations. "_Something's off about this situation,_" she mused while opening a drawer to her right. After a moment of fishing around she produced a detailed street map of the village and laid it flat before Sai. The pale teen instantly aimed a finger over one of the many buildings dotting the parchment and Tsunade analyzed the location.

"The ROOT compound is located in a system of tunnels that originate here."

"Bullshit."

The boy cocked his head ever so slightly but did not shift a single facial muscle. "I'm… sorry?" he inquired to convey confusion, although his tone could have fooled her.

The blonde Hokage grimaced. "_Crap, I got ahead of myself. Keep your cool, Tsunade…_" Her negative response was instantaneous because the hive Sai spoke of actually belonged to the ANBU force's hidden network. Every inch of that hive was memorized by heart by the ninjas residing within. "I know for a fact those tunnels already exist and that there's no one in there." She lied then glanced at the pale teen only to frown at his bizarre reaction.

His face remained impassive but his head trembled ever so slightly as if suffering from the mildest of seizures. The slug Sannin was about to rush to his aid but squelched the motion when his unusual actions ceased and he stared her in the eyes again. "Then you have not searched closely enough."

"It's closely guarded," she furthered the fabrication, "It's undeniable fact that the ROOT organization isn't there."

"Then you have not searched closely enough," he repeated. That, combined with his absolute impassive attitude, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Fine," the medic's voice was lined with nearly palpable rage as she fought to control the urge to kill the boy for insubordination and borderline treason. She raised a fist and aimed a finger at the door. "Get out."

Sai said nothing as he obeyed. He exited inelegantly, passing Sakura in the hall. The pink-haired shinobi took his absence to mean she could speak with her master. Entering the room, she gulped audibly upon feeling the waves of anger emanating from her superior. "L-lady Tsunade?" she began nervously, "A-are you free at the moment?"

The blonde Hokage slammed herself back into her chair, heard a crack as a piece of its wooden frame broke, and promptly ignored it. "Yeah. What?"

The Haruno smiled hesitantly and attempted her best to lighten the mood; her master was obviously pissed beyond measure. "I, uh… I need to talk to you about Sai…" She froze for an instant when the aura of promised death grew at the mention of the boy's name. "I think something's wrong with him…"

"Other than lying and disobeying a direct order from the Hokage?" The spite was easily visible in her eyes. "What could possibly be wrong with him?"

"Well… he… isn't as responsive as before."

An awkward silence passed as Tsunade considered. "Explain," she demanded without an ounce of grace.

"When… uh, Naruto… er…" She took deep breath and started over. "When Naruto first convinced Sai to give up his past training, he honestly tried to connect with people. He would try to make conversations with total strangers and make an honest effort to befriend them, or at least be civil."

The slug mistress took this with a grain of salt. "And…?"

"When I saw him today, he didn't even say 'hi'. I've been accompanying him around the village and he hasn't even smiled, not even that fake smile he used when he was first assigned to team seven…"

The aged medic listened intently while calming the fires of her rage. "_Perhaps there's really something wrong with him. But it couldn't be an illness; I've never seen a disease that affects willpower. No, someone must be manipulating him. Threatening him, perhaps? No, that couldn't be it… his old training makes him impervious to personal threats. That leaves only one option: he's being physically forced. I don't know how, but that makes the most sense given what I've seen of him._" Her multitasking mind put together the pieces of the enigma that was Sai before addressing her subordinate. "You said he began acting like this today. What about the day you were drugged?"

Sakura blushed in embarrassment; she had yet to forgive herself for being duped so badly in that incident. "No ma'am, he was fine until today."

"Yesterday?" She wanted to confirm every bit of potential evidence.

"He was fine then, too."

"_So it's an overnight case. Something must have happened last night to cause this kind of behavior. But what on earth could do something like this?_" She closed her eyes and nodded satisfactorily. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Sakura. I'll take a look at him when I've got time."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," she bowed before starting for the door, stopping short of leaving to voice one final inquiry. "Is… there anything I can do to help?"

"I think this one's out of your range of abilities," she lied. The last thing she wanted was more people becoming personally involved with anything related to Danzo. "I'll take it from here."

"Yes ma'am." The pink-haired girl exited the room and strolled down the hallway, wondering why her master seemed to want her gone. "_Why was she so insistent I not be involved with my own teammate? Is there something else going on here?_"

While the Haruno contemplated the situation, the blonde slug mistress sighed heavily and stared at the village map still on her desk. "_I know he lied about the ROOT headquarters being there,_" she knew, "_But was the fact that it's underground a lie as well? It would certainly make a better base of operations for a covert outfit… but the ANBU compound is the only tunnel system that we know of._" She sat back in her chair, produced a small bottle of sake from one of the drawers, and took a quick swig. "_What could… wait!_" Her eyes went wide upon an epiphany. "_The only tunnel system that we know of! Could there be another system that's never been recorded?!_"

She shot from her chair and headed for the archives in search of the original blueprints and dusty journals of the actual construction process. Both series of documents were of the highest classification that only she had authorization to review, but they were currently the only things she could think of that might contain answers. It was a long shot, but there was a tiny possibility of a second hive woven around the already existing tunnels that had never been documented.

--

Anko Mitarashi wandered the village streets in a state of undue paranoia; she felt eyes glaring into the back of her skull but couldn't pinpoint the perpetrator. It was an unnerving sensation knowing that someone was spying on her while simultaneously being unable to locate the offender. So she strolled through the streets in search of a face familiar with the strange goings-on that had been occurring lately.

"Anko," such a person answered her silent call, "What are you doing out and about?"

"Kurenai!" she exclaimed with false joy, "What's up?!" She slung an arm around the woman and whispered in her ear. "I'm being followed. Help me out here."

The Yuhi's eyes went up in surprise for only a moment before returning to their previous state. "Alright," she went with the flow, "Who's following you?"

"I don't know." They now walked uncomfortably close down the bustling street. "I don't even know if it's one person. It's like having a camera trailing you or something…"

Kurenai frowned. "Should we tell Lady Tsunade about this? It could be involved with… you know…" she hesitated before reverting to an unofficial code name, "Dango."

Anko considered this before shaking her head. "I don't think so. At least Danzo's goons have a presence. These guys… don't. It's like a ghost moving through the crowd." She eyed the passing civilians with mild scrutiny; were they really so oblivious? Or were the stalkers simply that good?

"Come on," the illusion mistress made the decision for her friend, "We'll go tell Lady Tsunade about it."

And with that, the pair of female ninjas made their way to the Hokage tower. The moment they entered the extensive compound, they rushed to the slug Sannin's office only to find the woman in question missing. Naturally, they panicked.

"Where the hell is she?!" Anko spat in her frustration, "Did someone get to her?!"

"Please…" Kurenai rolled her eyes at the woman's paranoia-induced antics, "She probably stepped out for a minute. She'll be back."

"Um…" Shizune's hesitant voice began from the door- she didn't want to interrupt anything important, "She's down in the archives right now…"

"Let's go!" the sweets lover exclaimed before bolting out the entrance.

The illusion user sighed and calmly followed after her overly active friend; she knew she had to… take things easy for a while. Sadly for her, so did the invisible eyes watching the female ninjas' every movements.

--

When the sunlight waned and the daylight hours morphed into night, Naruto climbed into his sleeping bag at the training ground. The day had been filled with training, and he was able to keep his mind off the Hyuuga… some of the time. He attempted to forget about the previous evening by pondering the groundbreaking training method suggested by Kakashi, but even that only provided a few seconds of peace. Even his eventual conquest of disrupting a waterfall didn't carry enough weight to ease him. He felt miserable.

As he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, he still couldn't get her out of his mind. "_Damn it! Why?!_" He felt a few hot tears emerge and sniffled before turning his gaze to the starry night sky. He glanced at the brilliant moon and instantly regretted it; it resembled the Hyuuga's colorless eyes. "_Even the damn moon…_" The blonde continued to stare at the sky, contemplating what he should do from here on out.

He couldn't be with Hinata anymore- she had made that abundantly clear. So what was left? There was no one else he'd ever even heard of who could match his fighting prowess and intellect; were there really none others equal to him? He knew he could become Hokage should he put forth the effort, but was it worth being powerful if it meant being alone? He didn't know the answer to that, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

The Uzumaki tossed and turned in his sleeping bag and almost jumped when he almost butted heads with a friendly face. "Shia!" he exclaimed in no more than a whisper- he didn't want to wake Kakashi and Yamato.

"Curse," she smiled at him then unzipped the human-sized rucksack in a single motion, "Scoot over."

"What are you…?" He never completed his inquiry before the auburn-haired girl slid in next to him and zipped the bag up again. It was a tight fit even with her small frame, but in a way her close presence was welcome.

"Mmm, cozy." She snuggled up against the blonde and buried her face in his jacket.

Naruto put his arms around her; where else could they go? "Shia, what are you doing?" he whispered.

"What's it look like?"

"I… uh…"

She glanced up at him with blazing cheeks and giggled at his loss for words; this was working out better than she hoped. To be sure, it was embarrassing to be rubbing up against him, but at least he had seemed to temporarily forget about Silence. "I missed you, so I came to see you."

The blonde blinked away his bewilderment and smiled in return, although the gesture was lined with melancholy. He tightened his arms around her, glad that she cared for him as much as she did. "Thank you."

Her smile lessened a little when she heard the sadness return to his voice, but she willed herself to remain upbeat. "_He just needs to know that someone's there,_" she knew, "_Just like he was when I was like this…_"

The Uzumaki rested his chin on her head and took a deep breath, his morose thoughts flooding back into his brain. This comfortable situation only reminded him of how he wished to hold Hinata like this one day, and he felt tears well up since he now knew it would never happen. He was so lost in his inner musings that he didn't even note the subtle increase in temperature on the auburn-haired girl's back. He did however, notice when the girl pulled herself upwards and nuzzled him on the neck. "Shia, what're you… Aiya?"

The second personality gazed him with what could have passed for a blank stare, but such a move for her meant something completely different. Without a word, she receded and left behind the primary mentality to deal with the consequences. Shia instantly blushed like a rose and stuttered, "S-sorry!"

Naruto stared at her for a moment and smiled; he could tell she was embarrassed by the actions of her second self but not entirely ungrateful for them. "It's fine," he consoled her by unburying a hand and gently scrubbing her unruly hair.

She glanced down and her blush seemed to deepen- it was hard to tell in the moonlight. "C-Curse," she stammered, a sure sign that she really meant whatever she was about to say, "I… I don't know why you're sad, but… I just want you to be h-happy…" She buckled under his soft azure gaze then continued. "I- I'll always be here."

The blonde silently regarded her a moment longer before replying. "Thank you, Shia." He brushed aside the hair covering her face, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead before returning his arm to the embrace. "Thank you…"

Long minutes that felt like hours passed and the two eventually fell asleep in the cramped sleeping bag. Little did any of the campers know that an analytical eye observed this entire scenario through a familiar telescope.

"Hm…" Jiraiya rubbed his chin in thought, "Looks like something's up. Good thing I decided to keep up on him…"

--

Tsunade was frustrated. Two days had gone by and she still hadn't made any headway into locating the ROOT compound. It wasn't for a lack of effort though. In fact, she had made a few startling discoveries… sort of. The slug Sannin had poured over blueprints and plans for so long that she wanted a fresh perspective on the lack of evidence, which was why Anko and Kurenai now stood in her office.

"Anything on the people following you?" the Hokage began.

"No ma'am," the sweets lover replied while her friend merely shook her head.

"Well, hopefully this will have something to do with them." She produced a thick folder, unraveled its contents on her desk, and beckoned the female ninjas to give it a once-over. "Technically I'm the only person authorized to see this, but I think I can bend the rules a little here."

The Yuhi was the first to speak. "These are plans for a tunnel system…"

"Right."

"System? We have a tunnel system?" The Mitarashi was surprisingly ignorant of this fact given that she once called Orochimaru 'teacher'.

"We do." Tsunade adopted a stoic mask. "These are the original blueprints of the tunnels that serve as the ANBU headquarters." Noting the women's shocked glances, she continued. "These plans date back to the founding of Konoha under my grandfather, Hashirama Senju."

"So what's all this?" Anko inquired, handling the other loose papers.

"Reports from when the tunnels were being constructed. Notice anything unusual?"

The Mitarashi crossed her eyes trying to find an answer; investigation was never her thing. Kurenai snatched the papers from her hands and read over the yellowed documents, raising an eyebrow when she found what the Sannin meant. "It appears there were quite a few accidents at this… sector six."

"Not just accidents," the blonde Hokage corrected, "Disappearances and a few deaths as well."

"Right…" The Yuhi's voice became distant. "Why is that?"

"That's why you're here; to help me figure this out."

"Hey, here's something," Anko interrupted. Now that she knew what to look for, she could be of some use. "Looks like there was an eyewitness at one of the accidents."

Tsunade cocked her head. "Huh… I missed that. Is there a testimony?"

"Yeah, it's the next… page…" The snake charmer shuffled back and forth between a stack of papers with an increasing frown. "Where the hell is it? It should have been the next page…"

All three women began scouring over the documents only to eventually come up empty. The illusion user was the first to voice concern about it. "She's right. It's missing- see the page number? It skips the next page and picks up right after it."

"How did I miss that?" the slug mistress berated herself, "Guess that's what I get for pulling an all-nighter…"

"Lady Tsunade, if I may make a suggestion…?"

"Go ahead," she sighed.

"Are there any files on this eyewitness?"

She nodded. "Should be- all the workers were shinobi, and all shinobi are documented."

"Are they in the archives?" Anko inquired.

"Not in the restricted archives, but you don't have proper clearance. Here," the Hokage stamped a sheet of paper with her personal seal and handed it over, "Show that to the guard and he'll let you in."

"Understood." She took the slip and exited with purpose in her steps.

"So…" Tsunade addressed Kurenai, "What do you make of all this?"

"I'm… not sure. I don't see how it's related to being watched, and there's no way it can be related to Danzo or ROOT. Is there a possibility that it's just a coincidence?"

The head ninja leaned back in her chair and sighed. "I have reason to suspect that there's a second tunnel system in Konoha that serves as Danzo's base of operation, but I can't be sure. There's nothing documented other than the system designed by Hashirama."

The Yuhi considered this for a moment before providing another point of view. "Perhaps the First intended for these tunnels to be diversionary while a second system would serve as the real base of operations."

"Then why the accidents? Why would people disappear? And I know that the First would never sacrifice people for the sake of keeping a secret, so how do you explain the deaths?"

She shrugged. "Maybe this sector six is unstable."

"It lies underneath Interrogation Headquarters."

"Oh…" That was one of the most secure establishments in Konoha, and no one had ever reported any problems, at least not in her lifetime. "Then I'm out of suggestions."

Tsunade rubbed her temple to stave off the impending headache; why did she have so many problems? "Well, on another note," she changed the subject, "When are you due?"

Kurenai smiled and put a hand to her abdomen. "So you noticed?"

She smirked. "I'm the best damn medic of my generation! I knew it the instant you walked through that door!" She cut the melodrama- no doubt a trait inherited from spending too much time with Jiraiya. "Who's the father?"

"Asuma." Her voice became surprisingly airy at the mention of the man's name. Love could certainly do strange things…

The slug mistress snickered and carried on the casual conversation with the Yuhi until Anko burst into the room. The snake charmer dashed for the desk and fumbled through the loose papers until she found the desired parchment.

"Anko!" the female Sannin exclaimed, "What's wrong?!"

"Shit…" she swore with wide eyes, "I thought that looked familiar!" Her arms lowered and she glared at her superior with a mixture of shock and fear. "The records say that the eyewitness disappeared the day after his testimony!"

The room became drenched with tension. Tsunade stood from her seat and her voice quivered in realization. "Then that means…"

"Yeah!" the Mitarashi nodded, "Someone wanted to keep sector six a secret back then!"

--

As the days went by, so did Hinata's willpower to ignore her situation with Naruto. Despite the fact that she was allowed travelling privileges and was on an unusual mission in the distant village of Suna, she couldn't strike the blonde from her mind. Thankfully, issues regarding her mission provided a welcome decoy for her thoughts, but whenever she had time to think about anything other than her assignment, her counterpart would come to mind. And considering that she was one of the greatest prodigies of her age, these times came along more often than not.

"So," Kiba began, "What're we looking for again?"

Temari faced the feral boy and answered, "You and your dog…"

"It's Akamaru!" he interrupted while said animal barked in annoyance.

"…Will search for the scents of the people who disappeared." The fan wielder aimed a finger at the Kazekage building. "There's enough of their belongings in there for you to start." When the smelly teen and his pet grumbled and left, she continued. "You two," she addressed Hinata and Shino, "Have already seen all their photos. Just start looking."

"That is all?" the bug user inquired. To any ear that had listened to him over the years, his annoyance at such little evidence came through loud and clear.

"Yeah," the sand sibling nodded, "It's not much, but you guys already know as much as we do."

Shino nodded and wandered off with an audible buzz; his hive was in compliance. On the other hand, the Hyuuga bided her time. "_I'm willing to bet that the disappearances are linked to Suna's tunnel system,_" she concluded while aimlessly traversing the sandy streets. "_If it's anything like home, there might be someone pulling some strings around here._"

Her head fell as she further considered that hypothesis; it reminded her of home. She briefly wondered how Naruto was doing; about how- or if- he was handling Danzo's fanatic followers. In an attempt to dismiss the blonde yet again, she began thinking about the only other time she had intruded upon the foreign village's tunnels. "_I remember it being dark and dusty- it hadn't been used in God knows how long. What if I was wrong?_" She shook that notion away. "_No, no. There would have been footprints left in the dirt, and even then it would take years for dust accumulation to fully cover up the patterns._" A thought struck her and she froze for a moment. "_W-what if I triggered something by taking that crystal?! What if I'm responsible for this?! Oh, please don't let it be me…_"

But Hinata would have to wait to find out. As night fell and the moon rose into the eternal sky, she donned her alter ego's apparel and located the entrance she had used once before. Descending into the seemingly abandoned hive system, her eyes didn't need the Byakugan to note the first change.

It wasn't abandoned anymore. Why else would there be newly installed lights? Granted, the sources of illumination were crude and made the tunnels look more like a mine than an underground installation, but electricity was now existent. And if that wasn't enough, the floor, having once been covered in a fine padding of dust and sand, was now trampled with footprints of all sizes. This place was either packed, overused, or both.

Silence treaded lightly through the cramped caverns, focused on the ominous environment around her rather than how much these dim hallways resembled the ones beneath Konoha. "_I wonder if they're related?_" She continued forward with her bloodline actively searching for any signs of life.

Strangely enough, she found none, and this bothered her. But after a thorough sweep of a fairly large area, she knew that there was one likely place she hadn't checked: the chamber in which she found the chakra-producing crystal. She swiftly backtracked her way to the stubborn blast doors that shielded the compromised elevator shaft that led to the ancient labs, stopping short at the corner adjacent the steel barrier. Her Byakugan flexed and widened at the discovery.

The blast doors were now repaired and firmly shut. The rusted gears and demolished hydraulics been replaced and there was even a camera installed in a corner. Silence grimaced behind her mask and handled the energy weapon at her hip; she knew the instant she made any kind of move, stealth went right out the window. A tiny part of her brain whispered that it would be infinitely easier and safer with Curse, but she broke that train of thought by squeezing the trigger on the portable weapon. The device buzzed with power and she rounded the corner and aimed it at the camera the instant it fired. Her arm felt warm in the steaming air when the blast of light came to being. The smoke cleared to reveal that the small tool of surveillance was reduced to a smear of molten slag against burnt rock.

Her sharp ears picked up a feint wail of claxons from the other side of the blast doors. She holstered the cooling energy weapon, reached for her folded spear, and whipped it open with a flick of the wrist before jamming one of the blades into the miniscule crack of the barrier. Channeling her multiple generators' energy into her arms, she released it as a magnetic blast through the imbedded blade. The sheer force of the move pushed her back a few inches, and she swore under her breath upon finding that it didn't do a thing. The blast doors remained closed and the glaring sirens howled from within.

Silence panicked for a split second. "_Crap, they know I'm here! What do I do?!_" Her legs froze in place for a moment before accepting commands from her brain. She scooted away from the double steel doors and, once several feet away, began running. Hinata tended to logically think things through, but this time her instincts told her that whoever was waiting on the other side wasn't worth the trouble.

As the blue-haired genius neared the exit for the extensive tunnels, her blood limit picked up movement on the fringes of its vision. She swallowed as she clawed her way out; her gut feeling might have been right.

Whatever had responded to her presence, it was monstrous. And it wasn't alone. She would need help, but who was there to turn to? The first people that came to mind were her teammates, but she quickly disregarded them. Kiba, for all his ferocity, relied on extreme close combat. If Danzo's possessed ninjas were anything similar to this threat, enemy teamwork alone could take him down. Shino was an intelligent guy, but his tactics relied on outwitting his opponents and wearing them down to the point of defeat. The masked ninjas dwelling underneath Konoha never showed signs of slowing in the face of certain death or physical ailments, so if the enemy was the same way, they would be a disastrous match for the bug user.

Silence burst from the hole and charged like a bat out of hell into the night. A sense of dread rose in her chest when one of the overwhelming forces continued its pursuit outside the tunnels, so she fed chakra into her legs to put down some distance. That plan worked, giving her a few extra minutes to formulate a plan. Out of desperation, she headed towards the abode of the first person who came to mind.

--

Temari slept peacefully; she was dreaming of being in the lush landscape of the Fire country with a certain lazy ass by her side. It wasn't altogether unpleasant, so she reveled in it while she could.

That is, until her window exploded. She shot out of bed fully awake and aware and stared at the mass of glistening metal and leather before reaching for the closest weapon.

"Get your fan!" a feminine voice emanated from the figure as it held out a hand, "We've got a problem!"

"You bet we do!" She darted from her position, grasped her fan, and attempted to smack the intruder upside the head in one smooth motion. The wind user wasn't particularly surprised when the stranger countered the slab of metal with nothing but a forearm, but she became horrified when she couldn't pull back. Squinting to pierce the darkness, she found that her oversized battle fan was magnetically stuck to the armor on the person's arm.

"It's not me you've gotta worry about!" the intruder reassured unconvincingly.

"And you blew up my window to tell me that?!" She released the weapon and reached for some nearby kunai.

"Oh shit…" the figure swore as it peered out the window. The apparent female raised a hand and pointed out the busted window into the sky. "It's _that_!"

Temari raised an unconvinced eyebrow but glanced nonetheless. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she found what the stranger meant.

A backlit shadow rapidly moved towards the room, its outstretched arms almost hidden by a ragged pair of wings that flapped on occasion to keep it airborne.

The sand sibling backed up when the newcomer slammed into the windowsill and gasped at the sight. It was a woman- probably in her twenties- with orbs of ink for eyes and fangs for teeth. Her short hair was a muddled mess that failed to cover her elongated ears, and the wings appeared to be fashioned from cartilage and membranes. The woman resembled a bat rather than a human.

"W-what the hell is that?" Temari stammered, barely catching the fan as the armored stranger threw it back to her.

The woman's head twitched as she glanced at the blonde teen. She loosed an ear-splitting screech and followed it up with flapping her malformed wings to thrust herself back into the night. Chakra began building in the grotesque flesh and flew forward when it caught the breeze.

The wind user stood awestruck at the monster before receiving a slap on the shoulder from the other stranger.

"I'm Silence!" Hinata abruptly stated. "Help me take that thing down, will you?!"

She stared at the girl and nodded in apprehension; her instincts told her that this would be a fight to the death regardless of which side she chose, so she might as well choose the side that didn't look like it would immediately eat her. She opened her fan and swung it…

And the instant later, the wall separating the freak from the two ninjas was demolished by opposing gusts of powerful wind. Tonight was going to be a long night…

* * *

Yee-haw!

Actually, this chapter helped in getting me out of a slump.

3 in the morning... class in seven hours... need to sleep. G'night.

LOVE AND WHISKEY!!


	33. Suna Art and Weapon Warehouse!

Phew, this one's a biggie!

Sorry for such a long wait, but classes have started up again and I have two classes with the same teacher. Said teacher assigns a LOT of homework for every class, too. First day of class 1: produce 30 concept drawings. Class 2: 50 gestures. And that's the _light_ homework. And I have three other classes on top of those.

So, in short, updates might become rather sporadic for a while. Sorry about that, but I've got lots of work ahead of me. Please note that this does _not_ mean a hiatus or a break, merely that time between updates will probably be longer.

And now, on with it!

* * *

Jiraiya couldn't figure it out; who was this girl? "_I know she's the Ghost, but there's nothing else. Almost like an information black hole…_"

Every night, the toad Sannin would watch his blonde's student's progression. The teen tended not to work into the evening, so all the master ninja ever really got was a good view of the boy sleeping. But every single night, this strange girl would arrive and stay with him until morning. She was even skilled enough to awake and leave before Kakashi and Tenzou were even aware of her existence, and this baffled him. "_Who the hell is she? She knows Naruto well enough- I mean, why else would she sleep with him?_" A lecherous grin grew on his face; his student and this girl, while still too young for 'that', provided excellent inspiration for his next novel these past few nights. "_She's obviously close to him, and by the looks of it he's probably trained her a little… oh, that's a good one,_" he made a mental note of that, "_But who exactly is she? Even better, who is she to Naruto? I thought he and that Hyuuga girl would have hit it off._" He lowered his portable telescope and frowned when a bush across the large clearing rustled in a breeze that didn't exist. Any civilian or perhaps even fellow shinobi would have missed it, but he wasn't a legend for nothing. He lifted the primitive spy tool to an eye and gazed at the horizon…

…And found a pair of silver eyes gazing back. He did a double take, switching between the artificial lenses and his natural ones. The cold eyes appeared to be female, and there were some kind of tattoos that squiggled into a cross pattern over the sockets. "_Those look familiar…_" He attempted to further analyze the brief glimpse of strange seal work but failed- the figure disappeared from view. Jiraiaya grimaced and searched the ground for a chakra signature, but there was none to be found. The woman had vanished into thin air.

"What the hell?" he murmured to no one. His head snapped back to the bundle that was Naruto and his 'friend' when said girl stirred. He held his breath when she sleepily glanced his way, silently cursing the slip-up. But the strange girl let it go and went back to sleep against the blonde, and he breathed a sigh of relief before returning to his trusty telescope.

"_Well, guess it's better to do things one at a time…_"

--

The skies of Suna were usually crisp and peaceful. Lack of resources led the village to abide by a strict lights-out policy when the sun no longer provided adequate light, so the result was a cool night sky illuminated by the moon and its starry companions. It soothed the mind to watch the unending sky in the pleasant weather.

But not tonight. Silhouettes of a familiar fan user desperately dodged and weaved between lethal blasts of wind emanating from a human bat. Temari spent more time riding her oversized fan as she did on her feet, and that was no small feat considering that the attacker was free to use the skies at will. The sand sibling could only counter the lethal blasts of wind with her own whenever she touched down and had enough time to swing her weapon of steel and paper.

Silence, however, was having a rougher time. Not only was the monster capable of keeping itself out of her reach, the nature of its chakra easily combated hers. She fought to keep her hand off the portable energy weapon; it was powerful, but it attracted attention, and right now keeping innocent bystanders out of the fight was of utmost importance.

"Temari!" the Hyuuga addressed the airborne ally, "Follow me!"

"That's…" she dodged another blast of wind, "Not too easy right now!"

Hinata swore under her breath as she dusted off another rooftop, removing Yin and Yang from her armored back and preparing it for an attack. "_Haven't used this in a while,_" she thought, "_And I haven't really used the crystal yet…_" She reeled back, charged the bladed circular device with brilliant sparks, and lobbed it at the hovering bat woman.

But the monster noticed the oncoming weapon with her dark eyes and batted it aside with a modified breeze from a fleshy wing. Sadly, the defense worked perfectly and the blue-haired genius's device fell to the ground as the charged air easily dissipated the electricity.

Silence dove forward, her metallic boots clicking with every step, and retrieved her prized weapon by one of its protruding blades. "_Guess that's not gonna work,_" she concluded, reattaching it to her back to make way for a different method.

She felt the device warm as the innate power of the chakra-producing crystal was harnessed. Flinching at how much of the natural energy was being transferred into her system, she threw an arm out to gather the moisture in the air around her limb. The drops of liquid obeyed and parched the air as they swirled around the extremity and began to grown in size. Hinata ran across the elevated surface to avoid being sliced and diced while the torrent grew into a sizeable amount before easing in her secondary chakra. Bolts of lightening danced around the now solid rotating stream of liquid until the prodigy clenched her armored fist at the flying enemy. The water blasted forward, leaving behind a pristine thread of liquid and interconnecting sparks as it traversed the atmosphere.

The freakish enemy's wings beat furiously in an attempt to lessen the blow and dodge simultaneously. Chakra-enhanced winds erupted from the ragged wings and blew apart the solid fluid projectile, but charged droplets still splashed upwards due to momentum. So the human bat ceased flapping and dropped several feet, but not in time to receive a few of said droplets. The electrified spray was enough to render her momentarily paralyzed. She fell through the air in convulsion only to be struck by a deadly breeze produced by Temari.

The sand sibling smirked; she had taken advantage of the opportunity provided by this 'Silence' girl. She eyed the body and prepared for another strike when the figure moved. It stumbled from its prone position and began running across the stone rooftop in retreat, so the blonde kunoichi gave it another gentle breeze.

This time, however, the grotesque wings flexed behind their owner and took the brunt of the attack. The tattered flesh fell apart at the kiss of the wind and toppled to the ground in a bloody mess rather than allow their wielder more gashed wounds. Temari's eyes widened in shock when the attacker didn't break pace before diving headlong into a closed window, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces as it sought refuge in a civilian's home. "Shit!"

Silence didn't need to be told what to do; she gave pursuit and landed in the windowsill seconds later with her unfolded spear prepared for close combat. Her bloodline eyes quickly scanned the room, but the enemy made no attempts to hide. Rather, Hinata snapped her Byakugan off at the shock of what she saw.

Those inky orbs stared at her as the freakish woman kneeled over a bed with a man's severed neck between her sharp jaws.

The Konoha genius swallowed the bile that rose to her throat and her mind told her to attack, but the analytical portion of her brain kicked in to belay that order. Instead, she watched the monster as it tore into the dead man's flesh with necessary brutality. "_Her wounds are closing,_" she noticed the gashes from Temari's successful hit growing smaller, "_She eats flesh to heal herself… amazing._" Her instincts took over again and she launched herself at the cannibalistic assailant, bringing the unfolded shaft down to crush her skull.

But the female creature was ready for it. The moment the staff should have impacted her head, she yanked the lifeless body from the bloody mattress and held it above her face. The warm corpse took the brunt of the blow and, the moment the transferred force subsided, she wrenched off an arm and burst through the door behind her.

"Crap!" the Hyuuga exclaimed, "This is bad!"

"What's wrong?!" Temari finally arrived and gagged the moment she completed her statement.

"Hold this!" Silence tossed her unfolded weapon to the wind user and charged after the monster. Her heavily armored frame thumped against the floor as she cursed the irony of her name while chasing the human bat with bloodline eyes. She turned a corner, cleared a flight of stairs, cleared another corner, ran through a broken door…

And into the night once again, almost tripping over the skeletal remains of the limb the freak absconded with before retreating. Her Byakugan clearly found the assailant… a quarter of a mile away. "Holy crap, she's fast…"

"Where is she?!" the blonde Suna ninja inquired as she sailed over rooftops. She glanced at the grounded Hyuuga for an answer as she returned the elongated weapon.

"Over a quarter mile that way," Hinata raised an informative arm.

"Holy mother…"

"Go after her! I'll catch up!"

Temari instinctually nodded, but once she began she frowned at the ending portion of that statement. "_Catch up? How?_"

With no small sense of hurry, Silence handled her folded weapon and jammed it into the wall of the dead man's house at a skyward angle. She dipped into the bottomless chakra of the crystal, converted it within her body, and instilled the electric energy into the device. It sparked, and she began applying an opposing force to the armor covering her body. She stepped back, leapt into the air, and slammed her feet into the weapon once airborne. The opposite magnetic forces collided and acted predictably, tossing the Hyuuga into the atmosphere at a speed faster than most ninjas could perform. She sailed through the air like a battle-ready angel, small jolts of light glancing her armor as it ran its course. Hinata stifled a chuckle when her active bloodline revealed Temari's 'what the flying hell' expression.

Seconds later, as the ground-or rather, buildings- rapidly approached, the Hyuuga located her quarry. She spun in midair so as to soften the landing a bit as well as give her a running start the moment she hit the ground. It worked, and her chakra kept her bones from shattering, but her legs would be sore as hell tomorrow…

The freakish hostile was now in sight, but she merely spared the teen an unimpressed glance. She continued the rat race through the maze of structures, and the only reason Silence didn't lose sight of her was due to the Byakugan. The two dodged and weaved around corners, leapt across rooftops, and even slammed through a few more houses via the windows. Thankfully, there were no more innocents involved in the chase, but Hinata now knew to not give the opponent time for a quick meal.

The blue-haired girl followed after the freak for a while before realizing where they were headed: the entrance to the Suna hive system. "_Is she trying to lure me back or retreat?_" She recalled the enemy's tactical move of devouring flesh to replenish her health and made her conclusion. "_She's intelligent, whatever she is. And whoever she's with has had lots of time to set up an ambush. That's gotta be it; a trap._"

Eventually, the prodigy's suspicions were proven correct; she was indeed being lured to the tunnels' entrance. Her bloodline eyes saw the woman descend into the darkness with frightening agility and she held her feet in place; this was not the time to rush in, especially given her lack of reconnaissance. Instead, she clambered up to the nearest rooftop and scanned the horizon to locate her temporary ally.

Temari arrived in due time, her lungs gasping for breath as she landed next to the Konoha genius. "My… God…" she panted, "You guys… are fast…"

"Right," she waved it off with an unconcerned palm then aimed a finger at the entombed opening. "The enemy went down there."

"Where?"

"There."

She squinted. "Still don't see it."

The Hyuuga sighed. "Fine, just follow me." She leapt from the building and landed with a solid thud before the hidden hatch. "_Must take a Byakugan to see it,_" she wistfully mused, wondering why the female jonin couldn't distinguish it from the rest of the shadows. But that wasn't important now. She turned to the wind user and calmly stated, "That… thing wasn't alone, and they're probably setting a trap down here."

The sand sibling cocked her head. "Then why are we going down there?"

"I don't know of any other entrances."

Temari blinked; did she hear this stranger right? They were walking into an ambush of unknown proportions all because they didn't know where the back door was? "Are… are you kidding?"

"Not a bit." She bent her legs in preparation to jump. "Get ready to swing that fan." With that, she fell down the open hole. "_I wonder why my Byakugan isn't working? This could get ugly…_"

The blonde ninja peered into the hole after the stranger, extreme apprehension nagging at her. Should she go and fight and possibly die? Or was this stranger privy to goings-on within Suna that even she didn't know? She heard a 'whump' emanate from the bottom instantly followed by silence. "_Guess I'll find out,_" she gulped before jumping.

When Temari hit bottom, she swung on a heel with her oversized fan in tow only to find no targets. In fact, she didn't find much at all; only a few bizarre statues contorted in painful directions on the edge of the shadows cast by the dim lights. "Hey, uh… Silence," she recalled the stranger's name, "What now?"

Hinata wasn't sure either. Her Byakugan was once again skewed by the solid surfaces of the caverns, so she could only sense anything within her normal line of sight. There appeared to be no traps, but those statues… "Those weren't here before," she whispered to the older girl.

"What?" she hissed back, "Those? They look like a four year old had a field day with a bucket of plaster."

Silence still wasn't convinced. That 'plaster' didn't look normal, so she focused her Byakugan on one of them… and found a living signature. "Temari," she spoke in a hushed, level voice, "Hit one of those things."

The older girl raised an eyebrow but obeyed. She built up chakra in her arms, transferred it to the fan, and let loose on the nearest statue. What happened next made her jump.

The supposed mound of human shaped plaster slammed against the wall in the breeze, and deep lacerations opened and bled from the tiny blades of airborne chakra. There was a person buried beneath the lumpy white material.

"Shit," the Hyuuga swore and brought Yin and Yang to bear, "Hit them all!"

The other crude monuments seemed to hear her and broke from their positions. Some charged with steel pipes and other random blunt instruments in hand while others leapt to the ceiling and began crawling forward like spiders armed with meat hooks.

Temari's blast of wind rushed over a handful of the plastered enemies and knocked them off their feet. A few of them leapt to their feet as if nothing happened, although their wails of pain dictated otherwise. Some of them charged again while the rest actually ran away, their howls echoing throughout the darkness. The blonde girl folded up her weapon and brought it crashing down on the nearest skull, mildly surprised that the opponent didn't try to avoid it. Rather, the enemy acted more like a civilian than a ninja. She continued to plant the slated metal into the heads of the few enemies, crushing bones and invoking horrific wounds. "_There shouldn't be this much blood from blunt trauma…_"

While the sand sibling fended for herself, Hinata was sharing a similar experience with the hostiles clawing their way across the ceiling. At times, a few would stop and fling the sharp hooks at her, but her armor provided ample protection. She ran along the wall to minimize the space around her and extended a limb filled with bristling chakra. The natural energy sparked around her hand and she clenched a fist, sending forth a short spear of lightning. It struck one of the crawlers and the woman shrieked, her convulsing body humming with sparks. Silence released the technique and moved on to attack another, but the ceiling-dwelling freak dropped to the ground and ran at her with charred flesh. "What the hell?" the blue-haired girl murmured before striking the woman in the neck at a point that would render her unconscious. The enemy fell and the Hyuuga continued on to the next.

And so for a few tense minutes the female ninjas repeated these motions. Temari's winds were somewhat effective, but half the time they merely wounded the enemies who would then proceed to either continue their crude attacks or retreat to fight another day. Hinata's electrical attacks proved largely ineffective, seeing as how she eventually relied on her family's Gentle Fist style.

At some point the Konoha genius grew weary of the bizarre onslaught and retreated with her back to Temari. "Keep 'em off me," she commanded the Suna warrior before sending her hands into a series of seals. Noting that her temporary comrade was barely holding off the plastered opponents, she completed the move, lifted her mask up enough to expose her mouth, and spewed forth a lake. This was the Exploding Water Shockwave technique she copied, and it did a decent job of flooding the cavern.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the wind user demanded.

The Hyuuga answered by stirring the waters with armored hands. She dipped into the chakra emanating from the crystal housed in Yin and Yang's frame and inserted it into the water. A moment later, the water exploded away from the allied shinobi and rushed down either end of the soaked tunnel. Seconds passed, leaving behind two teenage girls breathing hard.

"What… the… hell?!" Temari shouted. She was drenched, and that wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"Come on," Silence urged. She was also soaked head to toe, but she paid it no mind. Ignoring the female blonde's protests, she charged through the corridor down the memorized route that would lead to the heavy mechanized doors. The sand sibling followed, albeit a bit slower due to being waterlogged. Swift minutes ticked by, and the two didn't encounter any imminent threats. They did, however, come across a drowned body. The Hyuuga was the first to reach it, and she grimaced behind her steel mask upon the sight of it.

Much of the plaster had washed away, and it left behind flesh that was mutilated and gory. Hinata knelt by the corpse and ran her hands over the surface in hopes of identifying the bizarre wounds. Her eyes screwed shut in concentration and frowned when her mind identified a few of the core components of the affected cells. She wasn't certain of what these new chemicals were- she had never encountered them before- but this growth was like that of an infection. Virulent cells had attached to normal ones and replicated exponentially, resulting in a biological change in the victim's DNA. Silence unhanded the body, seeing as how further analysis wasn't appropriate at the moment, and began inspecting the tainted flesh for wounds. Aside from the grotesque sutures and stitches, she found small puncture wounds in the neck, wrists, and inner elbows. "_This guy was an addict,_" she concluded, "_But to what?_"

Temari finally caught up to the Konoha genius and gasped at the corpse despite already being short on breath. "Holy shit! What happened to him?!"

The blue-haired genius didn't answer as she stood. "_Wow, she's a lot slower than Naruto…_" She shook her head to clear it of the blonde danger and proceeded. "These guys are addicts; that explains why they're so tough to kill… I think."

"You think?" she repeated in disbelief. Her knees bent and she leaned over the wet body. She paled and stood, her eyes wide with recognition. "T-this is… one of the civilians that disappeared…"

"Really?"

She nodded. "H-how did he get down here?"

Hinata instantly recalled how Danzo's ninjas behaved; they were much like these characters, although they were clearly a different league. "Don't know. But whatever it is," her Byakugan eyed an oncoming human spider crawling along the ceiling, "I know how to find out." She charged forward to attack the newest onslaught of enemies and Temari groaned.

"What did I get myself into…?"

And so the duo ran through a hail of steel, blood, and plaster. The horrific bodies of their attackers were either cut down by lethal winds or electric blades, and those who weren't brought down retreated in a wail of agony. But they would always return for a fight, and they were nothing if not vigilant.

After a while, Hinata began noticing the same hostiles returning again and again. What surprised her was when several began performing maneuvers that she had never seen before. Her interest was caught when one showed up from around a corner while on fire, but the flames didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he launched a jet of the stuff at her. Thankfully she could douse it in one of her many water techniques, but the fact that the civilian wasn't utilizing any chakra caught her attention.

One of the female enemies who crawled along the ceiling dropped and appeared to freeze in place; actual frost formed over her body before she launched one of her hooks at the two. Temari caught the movement in time to send the curved metal flying back at the assailant, but she almost faltered in delivering a follow-up shot when the woman flung a blast of ice at her. Her chakra laced wind sliced the oversized ice cube into a thousand pieces, but a few slivers struck her and melted in the shallow wounds. Still, they burned like fire.

The Hyuuga nonchalantly tended to the sand sibling's small wounds whenever she could spare a hand. It was a humorous scene; Silence holding the blonde teen back with one palm while flinging a bladed disk with the other. Hinata closed enough of the injuries that her temporary partner wouldn't be hampered then frowned when her activated bloodline noticed something… peculiar about one of the plastered hostiles.

The man in question had paused for a moment and injected something into his arm. Whatever this substance was, the genius girl wanted to get a hold of it for study. How else could this nameless mutant explain a teenager half his age planting his skull into the wall with an armored foot? Silence didn't revel long in her victory though; she merely scooped up the hypodermic needle and continued her killing spree.

Eternal minutes passed and the two finally found themselves amidst diminishing waves of enemies and a pair of familiar blast doors. This time the entrance was wide open, and its entombed elevator was actually functioning. Without a word, Hinata strode into the lift and Temari followed, if only to appease the lifeless stare of the younger teen's steel visage. As if prompted, the elevator's gears whined and the device crawled downward. Tense seconds turned to minutes which then turned into an hour.

"How far down are we?" the blonde girl inquired apprehensively. The lift wasn't particularly slow, so they had to be at least a few miles under the surface by her count.

"Dunno," Silence shrugged. As if by command, the elevator slowed to a halt and the doors clicked open to reveal a Hyuuga aiming her portable energy weapon forward. She scanned the cramped spaces before her and rushed to the first corner. Temari hefted her fan behind her back and followed without a word; if this was truly enemy territory, then the hostiles they just faced would be nothing. The temporary allies scurried across the cracked dust of what used to be tile as silently as the night, and they morphed into the scant shadows cast by the harsh impassioned lights. Hinata peered down the aged corridor, faintly recalled her previous wonder at how old this place was, and subsequently squelched her curiosity. Her Byakugan located the room in which she found the chakra crystal; its heavy blast doors were wide open, but her bloodline couldn't penetrate the walls around her. It was a jarring feeling, being unable to see even with an aural gift that was meant to penetrate everything.

Energy device in hand, the blue-haired genius crouched as she inched her way to the distant chamber; this reeked of an ambush. Her advanced eyes didn't need to refocus to tell her that Temari felt the same- the blonde teen's face grimaced and a drop of sweat streaked down a cheek. Hinata and company neared the entrance with twenty meters to go. Twenty turned to ten, and ten turned to five…

And the doors slammed shut before they could enter. They duo panicked and turned to retreat, but the opposite end of the long musty hallway was also closed off- another pair of blast doors now barred the way to the lift. Silence, her mind racing with notions of desperate escape, appeared to remain calm in the face of uncertain danger.

"What the hell do we do?!" Temari wasn't so composed. "We're stuck down here!"

"I can see that," the Hyuuga hissed, annoyed that the first snag got the older girl riled up. "Gimme a second to think."

But such time never came. Rather, a pair of ancient speakers that Hinata hadn't noticed before crackled to life. A voice resounded from the multiple machinations, its tone smooth and delicate- nothing like that of a madman. "_Almost sounds like a friendly,_" the Konoha prodigy mused.

"Ah, that's better," the voice proclaimed gently. Whoever was at the other end of the microphone didn't instantly come off as a raving monster, but then again the worst of them were usually calm and collected. "It seems not one, but two little moths have fluttered into my cage. But fear not, my little butterflies of the night, for I am far more generous than my masters. I am but a mere artist bearing no ill will, but rather, it is my job to seduce the ear and delight the spirit. So set your worries aside, and enjoy a peaceful evening of Jess Burgess."

"What the…?" the sand sibling began as her gaze went everywhere in search of the voice's owner. "Who are you?! What do you want?!"

"Come, come now, little moth," the benevolent tone replied, "I am humbled by your wishes to cast your eyes upon my greatest work, but alas, it is not complete for the world to see."

"_What in hell's name is he talking about?_" Silence wondered. "_I didn't think he was crazy, but I've been wrong before…_"

"You have proven quite valuable amongst my works of art, so I am willing to place much trust in you, but you must prove yourselves worthy of the task."

Temari argued. "Well you can take that task and shove it up…"

"Temari," Hinata whispered while shooting a glare at the older teen, "It might be our only way out of here. Let's listen for now." The elder ninja scrunched her nose, clearly unhappy with the order but knowing that she had little say in the matter.

"My masterpiece is but a mere shell as it is now, despite all I have done to breath life into it. It requires a certain… flair to truly be alive, and such flair can only be derived from the works of art by others."

"And you want us to find these," the Hyuuga ventured a guess.

"Precisely!" the voice exclaimed joyously, "My, what a bright little moth you are."

"And where are these 'works of art'?" She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

"They are located within the chamber that houses the pieces that I have created since arriving in this city. Find this room of wonders and all shall become clear- your wings do flap gracefully in the candlelight, so I believe the task shall be simple in your talented hands." The rusty speakers died and carried the frighteningly benevolent voice with them.

The blonde shinobi blinked in the dim light. "What the hell was that all about?" She spoke to herself more than Silence.

Said genius shrugged. "Dunno, but we've gotta find it. Come on."

And so the pair cautiously explored the corridor. Thankfully, this hallway was alone, but it split off into many rooms- one of those had to be the so-called chamber of great artwork. The Hyuuga carefully opened each swinging door one by one then analyzed the place with her Byakugan; there wasn't much. In fact, the locale was much the same as she remembered it during her initial incursion. "What the hell are we looking for?" she mumbled to no one before her brain offered a painful solution. "_If Naruto was here, it'd go a lot quicker…_"

"Uh… hey," Temari waved her temporary partner over, "I think… this is it…"

"_Strange,_" the genius's brilliant mind remembered this room; the roof had collapsed. There shouldn't have been anything in there… "Oh," she corrected that train of thought, "Yeah, this is it."

The chamber was an exceptionally wide endless hallway whose dim lights barely provided any illumination. The tile walls were adorned with cracks, caked layers of solid dirt, and imbedded metal containers that caught the blue-haired girl's pale eyes. But that wasn't the tip-off; it was the organized rows of posed plaster statues that awaited the duo with eternal patience.

The Sand ninja took the initiative and swung her fan down the length of the passageway, the encompassing winds filled with lethal chakra as they barreled onward. Garish wounds opened on the hostiles and a few limbs and heads tumbled to the ground, but not all the bodies followed. To be sure, one or two decapitated corpses collapsed into bloody piles, but most of the supposed figures stood strong as if they were actually statues.

"_But they're still bleeding!_" Hinata observed. She cursed the unusual plaster for blocking her Byakugan's vision- she was unable to tell who was alive and who wasn't. It was infuriating, but what could she do? "Temari," she hushed her voice, "Be ready for anything."

Said shinobi nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment. She was afraid that even a whisper would crack the air in her throat due to the fear coursing through her veins. She stepped forward with her open fan at the hip, eyes continuously scanning the room for movement. "_She's so damn composed,_" she analyzed Silence's calm movements, "_How many times has she been in this much danger?_"

But while the blonde girl thought so, the Hyuuga wasn't quite so courageous. Certainly, her outward appearance was cool and collected, but her mind was racing. Her pale eyes were locked in every direction along with her attention. If any of these damn statues moved, so would she. "_But why the hell do some move and others don't?_"

Curiosity notwithstanding, she approached one of the bloodied monuments and tapped it with the tip of her energy weapon. She confirmed that there was indeed a person within, but they didn't move. Her arms retracted into a seal and she invoked a quick shower above the figure and dowsed it. The plaster fell away in wet cakes to reveal the familiar mutated flesh, but upon further observation there were rods and locked gears shoved under the skin. This individual was dead, but the corpse was literally held in place from within.

"That's just sick," Temari couldn't help but murmur. As soon as she did, a statue out of her line of sight fell out of pose and reeled back a meat hook without making a sound.

"Watch it!" Hinata pulled the trigger to her weapon to initiate a charge the moment she saw movement. Her arm shoved the wind user to the side and she aimed at the hostile the instant the device discharged. The hair on her palm prickled in the ensuing dry air and the heat made her thirsty, but the attacker was now no longer in one piece.

"Holy shit!" the sand sibling couldn't help but swear, "What is that thing?!"

"Something awesome," she replied simply. Her Byakugan told her that a few unessential parts inside the device had fused together. It wouldn't be long before the thing's integrity was compromised completely. "Let's just get what we came for and get out of here."

She nodded and cautiously moved through the rows of rotting statues. One moved and she slammed her fan in its neck. An audible snap emanated from the being and she continued forward to the nearest container. When she arrived, she stole a brief glance behind her and pushed the horribly rusted steel door to the side…

To reveal nothing. Empty racks adorned the interior of the metal container, practically laughing in her face. She grimaced in displeasure and began slowly moving to the next one. Feeling a bump against her shoulder, she panicked and swiveled in place to pummel her fan into another neck, but it was stopped by a familiar arm.

"It's me," Silence assured, "I'm watching your back."

"Don't scare me like that," Temari hissed before approaching the next enclosure. She repeated the previous motions only to be met once again by empty bars. Growing frustrated, she shuffled over to the next, stealing a glare at a nearby statue before delivering a preemptive strike to the head. It moved under the force but otherwise remained erect; it was already dead. Her lungs heaved a sigh of relief and she opened the next container, only to find yet again that it had been emptied. "_Shit, is there anything in here?!_" Anxiety mounting, she ordered her legs forward.

The sand sibling neared the next container and glanced at another monument. She was convinced that it moved, but by this point her mind was playing tricks on her. Paranoia was settling in and she knew it- the edges of her vision shimmered like a mirage. Apprehension aside, she refocused her attention to the angular tank and placed her hand against the sliding door. A tiny voice in the back of her mind bemoaned the impending choice, but she knew it had no basis. Still, her doubts were enough to slow her hand as she began opening it.

But this time her gut was right. Before the inadequate lights could flood into the still space, a familiar head shot out from the crack of the oxidized door and clamped its fangs into her arm. Temari shrieked from the pain as well as from the shock of peering into the ebony eyes of the human bat. The resurfaced enemy bit down further before releasing her and launching herself out of the container. The sand sibling slammed her back against the metal hold as Silence moved forward and aimed that bizarre machine against the hostile.

Sadly, the Konoha genius hit nothing. The hostile freak weaved through the crowded horizontal columns of once-living statues and disappeared from view. Hinata swore under her breath when her weapon discharged and missed; once the charge was initiated it couldn't be stopped. She frowned upon noticing that a few more internal parts to her futuristic tool were now melted. "_I must have used a few too many flimsy materials in this one._"

The blue-haired prodigy then turned to the ailing wind user. Her pale eyes analyzed the muscles in the affected limb; there would need to be stitches to reconnect the fibers, antibiotics to stave off infection, and an incredible amount of time and patience to properly realign the nerve endings. "_There's no time for any of that. But if we can finish this up and get out of here, she'll be able to keep that arm._" Byakugan informing her of potential movement, she holstered her overheating weapon, approached Temari, and placed her hands over either end of the open wound. Her chakra hummed through the flesh, and she began working to stem the blood flow and numb the pain as best she could. The Suna shinobi grit her teeth at the agony, but she took it rather well. "_Wow, I guess Suna really does only pick out the best of them…_"

But no amount of training could keep the wounded girl from worrying. Sparing split-second glances elsewhere, she addressed the Hyuuga in a forced hush. "Am I gonna be able to use my fan?"

Hinata grimaced; breaking the news to any ninja that they would no longer be able to continue in their profession was never a job anyone anticipated. But thankfully she wouldn't know that feeling just yet. "Yeah, but not very well right now. I could completely heal this, but I'd need a lot of time. Here," she removed her hands after doing what she could and produced a pill from a vial hidden in her belt. "Take this. It'll numb the pain."

"I'll be fine," she argued. She knew from personal experience that drugs meant to dull the pain also dulled the senses, and she abhorred that feeling. Unfortunately for her, Silence wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer.

Said prodigy promptly slipped the capsule between the older teen's lips with startling speed then clamped them shut so she couldn't spit it out. "Doctor's orders. We're fucked if we don't get out of here, and I need you in tip-top shape."

Her eyes widened as her mind wondered for the hundredth time whether this person was friend or foe. "_Not much of a choice._" She gave up and obediently swallowed. Seconds later the drug's affects kicked in and she felt great… aside from an open wound that would have made a civilian puke. "Alright," she breathed heavily, "Lead the way."

The Hyuuga nodded and moved to the next container. She unceremoniously slid the door open, taking care to keep her failing energy weapon fixed at the entrance. Once again, they were met with empty shelves.

Temari groaned. "This is cruel…"

"Fuck this," Silence gave in to her frustration and shifted her device over to one of the metal houses down the line. Her finger squeezed the trigger and a moment later, in a flash of light and wave of heat, said container exploded in extreme decompression. But this time, amidst the debris, some kind of arm-sized machines flew outward. One landed near Hinata's feet and she scooped it up without looking down. She brought the thing to her face, analyzed it, and frowned when she came to the conclusion that she had no idea what it was.

It was a piece of metal a tad longer than her forearm with one end containing interlocking grooves that gave the appearance of a handle. The opposite end curved into an incomplete hook and its edge was blunted and seemed to be manufactured from a separate material. She gazed intently at the tip with her active bloodline and eventually everything came into view. Her creased eyes widened when she found the supposed interior of the different material consisting of molecular machines that she'd found within the chakra crystal. "_This one's not producing any chakra, but they're definitely related…_"

She wanted to examine the device further but couldn't; her Byakugan sensed swift movement amidst the fleshy statues and her arm instinctually brought the foreign rod up in defense. A pair of hands clamped onto both ends of the strange device and the hostile woman's jaws snapped as she leaned forward in the momentum. Thankfully, the enemy wasn't in range, and the Hyuuga was able to keep her at bay by reflexively dropping her energy weapon and placing both hands on the steel rod. The two engaged in a sort of reverse tug of war with the device, and Hinata was gradually losing. "_Shit, she's strong…_"

Temari wanted to use her fan but couldn't lug it past her shoulder. In a mild panic, her eyes spotted the discarded weapon on the floor between the two combatants. She leaned forward, grasped the thing, and aimed it at the enemy. She held it the same way Silence did and her index finger felt a loose piece of metal, so she clamped it down and felt the device rumble and vibrate as its charge built. The heat was intense against her arm, so much so that she briefly wondered if her supposed ally wore all that armor to keep from having a limb burned off.

But a flash of light and searing heat emanated from the device before she could contemplate it further. The freakish enemy noticed the weapon a split second before it discharged, and that was enough time for it to leap back into the sea of clumpy plaster and mutated flesh. "Shit!" the blonde teen swore as she scrambled to her feet.

Silence quietly relieved the Suna ninja of the weapon and glanced at it. "_Ugh, one… maybe two shots until it's useless._" She holstered the machine and considered her options. "_My staff is on the surface, so that's out. I don't want to waste the energy weapon on her without seeing what this 'Jess' guy has up his sleeve. That leaves Yin and Yang, ninja techniques, and hand to hand combat._" Her eyes easily saw Temari's wound without her needing to look. "_And I don't think hand to hand is such a good idea…_" She raised her eyebrows to stem a small headache that had been building since her entrance into this grotesque chamber. "_I'm starting to reach my limits with the Byakugan. Damn it, it'd be so useful if I could transfer that crystal's chakra into my eyes…_"

Noting that her bloodline was beginning to falter and that time was running short, Hinata considered one final option that under normal conditions would have been ridiculous. "Not much of a choice," she muttered to no one. She raised her open palms before her in a nonthreatening gesture and spoke in a clear, loud voice. "You out there," she addressed the human monster, "We don't want to fight."

"What?!" Temari hissed, "Are you insane?! She tried to eat me!"

"She only bit you," the Hyuuga corrected her in a whisper. "Time's running out for both of us, and we'll probably have to fight this Jess guy, so let me handle this." She returned her focus to the field of potential enemies. "We only came down here to find out what happened to the people who disappeared. We don't want to fight."

To their surprise, a head popped up from the horizon of ivory plaster and eyed them with a frown. The woman crawled on top of a posed corpse's head and didn't budge.

"The other person down here- Jess- wants us to help him. He's keeping us down here until we do, and we just want to go home."

The creature's head dipped and sneered at the mention of the man's name. What did this reaction mean?

Hinata gulped. "_Well, I think she understands us…_" She continued with the ludicrous statement that made this impromptu plan such a desperate one. "Would you help us?"

"_Oh my God,_" Temari mentally groaned, "_I'm gonna die…_"

A few tense seconds passed before anything was said. Surprisingly, it was the bat woman who spoke, although everything came out as a series of screeches and gurgles.

The pale-eyed genius eased out of her bloodline to conserve her energy. "We just want to leave, and Jess says he'll let us go if we help him."

Once again, the woman let loose a combination of high-pitched sounds. But this time she followed it up with a few deliberate shakes of the head.

"Woah…" the Suna shinobi couldn't believe her eyes.

"Alright, this is good…" the Hyuuga assured herself. "Do you think Jess won't let us go? Is that what you're saying?"

Once again, a shake of the head accompanied a sneer.

"Then would you help us?"

The woman neither said nor indicated anythin this time; she merely stared at them. After a while, she aimed a finger at a container not far from the two and followed them with an ebony gaze as they examined it.

The two female ninjas also kept their eyes glued to the freak. Temari broke out in a sweat, although that was more of her body reacting to the injury than nervousness. Hinata activated her Byakugan again as she laid eyes upon the contents of the designated hold. The racks were brimming with more of the strange rods, so the Hyuuga picked up two- one in each hand. Even if she couldn't figure out what they were, at least she could bludgeon something. The Suna ninja strapped as many as she could around her waist and followed after the Konoha genius as they carefully made their way back to the doors under the watch of the immobile freak. Said woman began following them by hopping across the heads, but the instant Temari's muscles flexed to open her fan, she halted.

"What's she doing?"

"Maybe she wants to follow us," the blue-haired prodigy offered. "She's not a danger yet, so just keep an eye on her… oh, shit…"

The statues that were still alive began approaching without provocation. A wave of movement became visible as the mutated people used each other as indicators to attack.

"Run!"

Temari instantly obeyed and her legs followed after Silence. Her lungs burned as her wound caught up with her, but she wouldn't surrender to the pain, not now. Not when that damn door was so close…

Hinata was having problems of her own. She saw a hook swinging towards her and blocked it with the rod in her right hand. The opposing pieces of metal sparked upon collision and she crushed the assailant's skull with the device in her other hand. She never broke pace, as her family's patented style of fighting turned out to be handy in such a situation. Sadly, there were far too many enemies; they could wear her Byakugan down and put her at a disadvantage since they were amazingly quiet at times. So she swung the steel sticks every which way, connecting with heads, necks, and limbs alike in her fight to reach the doors. She suddenly felt alone and glanced back, knowing that doing so was proof that her superior eyesight was growing weary.

Temari had gotten caught and surrounded. She managed to hold off the enemies with her fan huddled under her good arm, but the shoulder to her wounded appendage now sported an accompanying injury- a meat hook had been jammed through the flesh. The wind user couldn't turn in time to counter a plastered man before he smashed a broken pipe into her ankle. She stumbled to the floor, and her eyes showed Hinata that she was deathly afraid.

But then something… unusual transpired. The freakish woman whose wings had been clipped landed on one of the attackers, scooped up the blonde teen, and bounced over to the Hyuuga. With a low screech, she set the fan wielder down then glared at her apprehensively, as if wondering if she had just assisted an enemy who would sooner kill her than thank her.

Silence didn't allow time for any formalities to take place, though. She grabbed the sand sibling's hand and charged through the remaining enemies. Seconds later, they burst through the doors and Temari gasped when she turned to find the bat woman standing right behind her. Hinata was put off a bit as well but she didn't show it. Instead, she faced the oncoming legion, dipped into the reserves housed within the crystal, and initiated the Water Explosion technique for the second time that night. Torrents of water spewed from her mouth and quickly flooded the chamber with incredible force.

When the final droplets dribbled from the genius's lips, the monster took the initiative and slammed the doors shut. With frightening speed, she 'relieved' the wind user of her fan, much to said teen's protests, and barred the doors. Water leaked from all corners of the makeshift dam, but it wouldn't come out anytime soon. All those inside would drown long before they could hope to escape.

The aged speakers crackled to life and Burgess's serene voice made itself heard. "Well done, little moths. I am quite pleased at how you carried yourselves with such dignity…" He droned on for a while about his 'art' while the Hyuuga pulled the curved metal from Temari's shoulder and attempted to heal the wound. Said limb wasn't going to see action anytime soon. "…As such, I am willing to accept you as potential disciples. Oh, where are my manners, come in, come in!" His invitation prompted the heavy blast doors of the target room to ease open with a hiss.

The trio approached the entrance with extreme caution. Hinata wished her amplified vision could inform her of the situation before she entered, but wasn't to be. Whoever these people were, they knew what they were doing. "_On that note,_" she eyed the monster, "_I should keep an eye on her._" She did so as the three scampered into the chamber, but that soon took a back seat in her mind.

Before her sat the room in which she discovered the chakra-producing crystal. But now it looked completely different. The walls were no longer lined with decayed furniture and papers but rather wires and pipes of all sizes. Machinery of elegant designs littered the floor in a simple circular pattern around the cracked shell that once housed the crystal and everything in the room was somehow connected to said device. The bizarre sphere was now properly open, but her focus moved to what was directly beneath it.

A young woman was strapped to a vertical steel platform with her legs held straight and arms akimbo. Her limbs and body were punctured with wires and tubes, and her scalp was a mess of tangled hair and wires that dug into her skull. Silence gazed at the woman with her bloodline only to determine that the wires were merely the tip of the iceberg. The female's innards were lined with complicated machinery that smoothly and forcefully coursed through her body. For a moment the scientist within the Hyuuga was amazed at the spectacle and wished to study it, but the other side of her brain immediately squelched the desire. "_She's in so much pain…_"

The freakish woman let loose an ear-splitting screech and ran for the suspended female. Upon approach, she put her arms around the ailing woman and… embraced her?

"What the hell's going on?" Temari gasped for air. Her wounds were catching up to her and she was struggling to stand.

"I don't know…" Silence couldn't really figure out the spectacle either. She hoisted the injured wind user's arm over her shoulder and analyzed the two disfigured women. Squinting, she began searching their faces in the hopes of determining anything. "_They're… similar. Their features might be skewed, but anything that's not is identical with the other. And their bone structures are identical too. Are they…?_"

The woman covered in machinery appeared to awake and notice the monster with pained eyes. Her lips parted to speak but no words came; her vocal cords were shot a million times over. The freak responded with a low gurgle and a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Is she… crying?" the sand sibling wondered aloud. "Why? Who they hell are they?"

This display of physical and emotional pain solidified Hinata's conclusion. "They're twins."

Temari's head whipped around despite her lethargic condition. "They're what?!"

Before the Hyuuga could explain why, the air shimmered before them. Particles that appeared as flesh and blood formed and floated as ash and were followed by a sickening squelch. In their wake stood a man whose face was as mutated as the plastered statues. He carried himself with dignity, and his dark suit possessed tears and holes at intermittent points as he approached the two with arms waving at the air in false gestures of grandeur.

"Behold, my masterpiece!" He bowed to the ninjas with one arm 'presenting' the overdeveloped machinery. "I await its completion with joy."

"Jess Burgess," Hinata assumed this was him.

"I am, little moth." Inherent superiority tainted his voice, as if he was granting a lesser being to speak freely to him. "Now, if you will but present me with those few components, I may once again complete my masterpiece."

Something didn't add up. "Once again?"

"Indeed, little moth. Those belong in the egg shell."

She assumed he meant the opened orb. "And after that…?"

"A brilliant light which soothes the soul and eases the body shall consume them. My masterpiece will create the true essence of art, and as such it is never truly complete."

"I see…" She noticed the bat woman turn and snarl at Burgess. "And then you'll let us go?"

He frowned in confusion. "Are you not my disciples? You would not stay and become one with my work?"

"_I don't like the sound of this._" She shook her head and spoke with a level voice. "We just want to go home."

His misshapen eyes creased into displeasure. "You are not true disciples. So be it. Then you shall hand over the components…" he held out his hand, "And perish like the nonbelievers you are."

"I don't think so," the Hyuuga replied. She noted that Temari had reached the point where consciousness wasn't a sure thing, and with that thought in mind she retrieved her energy weapon and aimed it at Jess.

He responded with a trembling jaw and furious eyes. "God damn haters! Screw you! Screw all of you!" He charged at the duo with fists that self combusted.

Hinata squeezed the trigger. Seconds later, the device discharged with a flash and missed the target. But it wasn't due to poor aim; rather, Burgess burst into a flood of fleshy ash at the last possible moment. The beam of light struck one of the machines in the circle and blew it into a mess of gears and sparkling wires.

"You dare come into my home and tamper with my masterpiece!" His voice spoke from thin air and the blue-haired genius couldn't follow it. "I'll show you! I'll show all of you!" The air vibrated as it did when he first arrived and he appeared in another place altogether. He thrust his hands at the duo and released a flame of significant proportion.

Silence threw herself to the side with Temari at her side; she didn't dare leave the wind user alone against the enraged freak. She aimed her nearly dead weapon at the man only to find him explode in another shower of bloody confetti. "Damn it," she swore to herself and scanned the chamber in vain.

Jess took his sweet time and emerged from nothingness a few meters away. His hands were ready upon reentry and the treacherous little moth couldn't turn around in time with her partner in tow. He grimaced at having to destroy two potential disciples, but it had to be done. His arms extended and the hot plasma rushed through his veins…

But he never completed the bizarre technique. The bat woman leapt at him the instant he recombined his body and bit him just below the neck before she even laid hands on him. Burgess wailed at the pain and pulled away only to lose the chunk of flesh in the woman's fangs. He instinctively split himself up and came together a good distance away while clutching the gaping wound. "I'm surrounded by idiots!" he spat, clearly in pain according to his movements. "When are ever going to learn to take instruction?!"

The Hyuuga saw that his attention was now focused on the freakish female, so she aimed her weapon at him. "_One more shot… please…_" She pulled the trigger and the device rattled violently as it built a charge. The tip shimmered with light as it culminated the shot, but the discharge never came. Instead, the contained energy backfired back into itself due to molten circuitry and began building up within the tiny generator housed within. "Shit!" she threw the device away and scrambled for the door with the wind user hobbling along next to her. Her Byakugan saw the miniature machine sputter as it suffered massive structural failure and she knew it was going to be a big one.

But her eyes shot open when the monster promptly picked up the device, eyed it for a second, then lobbed it into the opening of the suspended orb. Hinata glanced back and was amazed that this seemingly primitive individual had such a grasp on the situation. Her ears heard Burgess screaming after his 'masterpiece', but she tuned him out long ago. Instead, she heard her weapon detonate and followed by a series of explosions and miscellaneous failures brought about as the orb and its machines failed in a big way.

As the two female ninjas reached the door, Silence looked back once again. Her pale eyes found the monster gently cradling her twin sister amidst the falling debris and fires. The woman closed her eyes and muttered something incoherent into her sibling's ear before glancing up. Her ebony eyes exchanged gazes with the Hyuuga before going back to their counterpart.

Silence nodded in reverence, hoisted the now unconscious Temari into a piggyback, and ran like hell down the corridor. She shut off her bloodline now that it was useless and focused on the hallway before her. Her eyes squinted and saw that the blast doors on the opposite end were cracked open, so she nabbed the wind user's fan as she passed the waterlogged chamber. A flood exploded from the unhindered doors but she paid no attention as she channeled chakra into the steel slats. She tossed the charged metal at the doors and they landed perfectly in the crack and ejected their voltage into the rusty barricades.

Her legs carried her like the wind ahead of the following torrent as she extended her arm, molded chakra in her palm, and shot out a solid spear of electricity. It struck the fan and induced a charge opposite of the doors. Naturally, the steel gates flew open in the face of physics and the Konoha prodigy leapt into the air. Her feet hit the wave on her way down and, since she possessed natural talent in water-based techniques, she manipulated the raging liquid to her bidding.

The controlled flood reached the shaft before its masters did and blasted the elevator to bits. As the wrecked lift fell to the bottom of its vertical tunnel, Hinata and Temari surfed into the space as the walls rumbled and shattered and a flash of brilliant light emanated from Burgess's 'masterpiece'. The Hyuuga then ordered the veritable monsoon to blast her and the blonde teen upwards and it obeyed. She had no idea how fast they traveled; her focus was on the fireball following after her waters. The flames created by the explosion were hot enough to evaporate the liquid with ease.

"_Just a few more seconds,_" she chanted inwardly, "_Just a few more seconds! I will not die tonight!_" If possible, her eyes widened further when an image of a certain dangerous blonde boy flashed in her mind. She didn't have the time to wonder why Naruto invaded her mind in such a life-threatening moment, and she wouldn't know the answer for a while.

Her upward gaze saw a faint light at the top of the shaft and she knew she was close. She then glanced down to find another light that was even brighter. "Ohhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiit…!"

--

Everything was dark and painful. Then her eyes batted open and gave her a sense of regret. It was bright outside, and the sun chose to grace the room with its burning illumination as it always did in the desert village. Temari groaned as she sat up and winced at the pain in her right arm. She reached to massage it and everything came back to her in a flash. The happenings of the previous night rushed into her brain, and her eyes widened when she recalled every minute detail as best she could. "_What… was all that?_"

"T-Temari," a meek voice squeaked to the blonde's left. Said teen turned to find Hinata sitting by her bedside with a worried yet relieved look plastered on her face. "You're awake!"

"Hinata!" she almost jolted out of bed, "Did you see or hear anything last night?!"

"Um… not really. There was a minor earthquake, but I slept through it…"

Her eyebrows rose in shock. "An earthquake? Holy shit," she muttered to herself, "I wonder if that… thing… exploded?"

"What thing? What happened last night? H-how were you injured?" The Hyuuga continued her innocent façade; she and the wind user had barely escaped the massive fireball that consumed damn near the entire tunnel system. Afterwards, she brought the Suna shinobi to the hospital in the panic over the tremor caused by the explosion. No one had noticed her, and she wouldn't have it any other way. She even managed to abscond with one of the steel rods from the 'art' room, but her brush with fiery death had unconsciously forced her to think of Naruto, and that was what was really on her mind at the moment. "_I can't even forget about him during missions…_"

"My God... Hinata," the fan wielder became deadly serious with excitement lining her tone, "Have I got a story to tell you…"

* * *

Yeah, I figured that since you guy's will have to wait longer for each chapter that I'd have to make longer chapters that don't leave you hanging too bad. Fair enough?

That said, anyone care to venture a guess as to who Jess Burgess is based off of? How about the plaster statues? (They're related, and not just in this fic). Come on, I know you can do it!

On another note, I watched 'The Dark Knight' again last night. My God. Amazing. When I saw it in theaters, I was plastered (puns!) big time, so I don't really remember that night. At all. But now that I've seen it sober, my opinion hasn't changed. Effing amazing. I really enjoyed the fact that, in the end, the Joker ultimately won. He was the only character who accomplished his final goal.

Go Heath Ledger. Or not. Sadness...


	34. Who the Hell is Running the Show?

My lord... the chapters are getting longer...

Actually, a lot of this was pre-written. That's one reason my updates are taking a little longer, but that means when I get around to that scene, it's ready to go. AND it's better written (hopefully) because I did it at a time I felt 'felt' the scene.

Now, I've been noticing a few complaints of varying degrees. For those who don't like how slow things have been going, sorry 'bout that. I kinda have to agree with you on that point, and there's really not much I can do other than plow through it. Others have been complaining about OCs, which is kinda funny because I've started cutting back on their time as of late. I'll be continuing this tradition as much as I can, so... yeah.

And for those of you who are generally pissed because you can't tell where this is going: deal with it. Where's the fun in knowing a plot beforehand?

Alright, enough of the rants! Enjoy!

* * *

Days passed before Hinata and her team were allowed departure from Suna; the mass confusion resulting from the underground explosion prevented easy movement. Sentry paths were increased tenfold and virtually every nook and cranny was searched in an attempt to understand what had transpired.

Ironically enough, one of the handful of buildings that collapsed due to the tremor did so right on top of the only known entrance to the tunnel system. The Konoha genius thought this was hilarious. "_They'll never know what happened!_" she chuckled inwardly before correcting herself. "_Of course, Temari knows everything. And once she tells everyone, they'll know it too. Crap, they'll even know about me…_" She wondered what the foreign village would do as she shuffled over to the gates in preparation to leave when she was stopped by a familiar face.

"Hinata," Temai leaned against a wall while awaiting the genius girl's passing, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Y-yes," she falsely stammered. "_This… might get bad…_" She attempted to draw attention away from herself. "How are your injuries?"

"They're fine," she waved it off, "Thanks for asking. Hey Hinata… thanks for listening."

"I-it's no problem…"

"Nah, I mean it. You know half the village thinks I'm crazy, right? Almost no one believes me."

"What about your brothers?"

"Of course they do, but the council…" She trailed off in the hopes that the younger teen understood the implication.

"I… admit that it is difficult to believe…"

"C'mon, you too?" The blonde teen didn't want to hear this, not from the passive and soft-spoken ninja. "I know it sounds crazy, but at least you believe me, right? Why would I lie…"

"It's not that!" Hinata swiftly reassured her then retreated into her oversized clothing after the outburst. "It's just… it's such a wild explanation to everything that it is hard to believe. I'm sure you are not lying, but you can at least understand why others would think so."

The wind user's head drooped and she sighed. "Hinata, they're gonna watch me more carefully. If the council still thinks I'm nuts after a while, they could terminate my career."

This caught the Hyuuga's attention; she hadn't thought of this outcome. Then again, anyone who knew of her and… Naruto were bound to silence under threat of widespread panic or death. "I don't think so," she placed a gentle palm on Temari's good shoulder, "You're a strong ninja, and I don't think the council would discount you because of something they can't prove." Her mind's eyes shot open at her own words; shouldn't she be taking her own advice before imparting it to another?

After a moment, the wind mistress smiled weakly. "Thanks, Hinata." Her lips then contorted into a healthy grin to lighten the mood. "You're too damn nice, you know that?!" She followed that up with a laugh.

Said blue-haired teen giggled in reply. "T-thank you… I think…"

"So," the foreign girl lurched forward from her lax position and walked alongside the concealed prodigy, "You told him yet?"

"T-told w-who?" She didn't like the sound of this.

Sure enough, that universally recognized mischievous glint shined in the older teen's eye. "Uzumaki. Have you told him yet?"

"_Even her! Everywhere I go…_" She panicked a tad then answered. "T-told h-him what?"

"Don't be shy! You know!" Temari flung her good limb around the ever-reddening Hyuuga. "You told him you like him yet?!"

Hinata did her best to appear horrified; had she not done so she would have cast her vision to the ground. She still wanted to forget the blonde danger, but he refused to leave her mind. "H-how did y-you…?"

"Don't even try- it's obvious! I saw you lookin' at him during the, uh, Chunin exams…" She bit her lip at that particularly unpleasant memory before continuing. "Anyone with a brain couldn't miss it." She chuckled to the side. "Guess that's why he did…"

The pale-eyed girl didn't really care to reply; she momentarily forgot how her projected self would react in favor of staring into nothingness. "_Everywhere I go, he's there. If he's not there, then someone's talking about him. And if nobody's talking about him, I'm thinking about him…_" Her inner tone was that of remorse; she wanted to strike the boy from her brain but the organ refused to cooperate. When she said nothing for a few key seconds, the accompanying teen grew concerned and pried.

"What's wrong?"

"I-it's nothing."

"Liar." She called her on it. "What is it? What happened?"

"_Should I tell her? Can I trust her? Can I trust anyone?_"

"Oh…" things clicked in the older girl's mind, "You found out, didn't you?"

The pale-eyed prodigy could only nod; there was no backing out of this one.

"So that's it… let me guess- you're scared, right?"

Once again, a mere nod of the head sufficed.

"I see." She gazed into the emerald sky, wondering how to bring this shy girl down from her fear. She couldn't think of anything, so she went with her own story. "You know, back during those Chunin exams, I was scared to death of Gaara. Everyone was- they treated him like a monster whenever he tried to connect with them and he eventually came to hate them back. He hated everyone so much that it was almost like he was possessed by the demon sealed inside him. We gave him a reason to hate us and want to kill us." She took a breath. "Then Naruto came along. He beat Gaara in his strongest state and showed him that he was strong because of his friends, not because of hatred. He saved Gaara from himself and gave him a second chance at life." Her eyes glanced at those of the Hyuuga and her lips produced a meek smile. "Does that sound like a monster to you?"

Hinata looked up and desperately gave her own version. "I know he's not a monster, but what if it gets out? I'm not scared of him, I'm scared of what's in him… and what it would do if it ever escaped…"

Temari slapped the girl on the back in good humor. "Well, can't help that. But do you really want to give up on him just because of something that might not happen?"

The azure-headed girl had no response to that, so she simply stared ahead. Was this girl right? She might not have a complete grasp on the situation, but did that make her advice any less relevant? "_She… doesn't know everything,_" she concluded, "_There's so much more at risk than just me or Naruto… I can't risk it…_" Her mood fell somewhat at this notion; her emotions waged war against logic, and both sides were locked in a stalemate. "I… I just need s-some time…"

The sand sibling simply gazed at the introverted girl with a sad smirk. "_I feel sorry for her. She's really missing out for no good reason._" She averted her eyes and noted that they approached the gates. "Looks like this is where we part ways," she announced upon locating the other two Konoha shinobi.

"Y-yes." The Hyuuga trudged on ahead of the blonde without anything more.

"Oh, Hinata!" Temari remembered one last thing and called out to her. "You might wanna hurry on 'that'- I think that Haruno girl's trying for him too." She laughed when those pale eyes glared back at her. "See you around!" With that, she turned and made her way back into the dusty village.

The Leaf genius temporarily ignored the friendly taunts emanating from Kiba as her mind raced with thoughts of Naruto being with someone else. Sakura was laughable; she knew he despised her as much as she did. Anko… not even possible- she was too old. Shia… she was young, but only by three years…

Either way, she reflexively shuddered at the thought of the blonde prodigy being with anyone else. Her eyes felt warm and moist as she mentally chanted, "_Not me… not me…_"

--

Days passed, and Tsunade's temperament went with them. She had been spending far too much time trying to figure out what was so special about this 'sector six' indicated in the aged plans. "_I've sent team after team to that area and searched it over and over again, but there's nothing. Not even a Byakugan can find anything. Just what the hell was so important about sector six? Is there even anything special about it? Could it all just be coincidence?_" She shook her head. "_Can't be. There were far too many accidents and deaths related to those who've been there in the past to indicate otherwise._" She glanced at a recent report on her desk and it broke her from her negative revelry- more news of sightings of the rogue Akatsuki pair roaming the countryside. "_And if that's not enough, I've got Akatsuki to deal with. Damn it, between all the paperwork and crap that keeps coming up, I can't get out of this damn office!_" She spent some time signing more papers stacked on her desk then took a break. Her gaze shifted over to the magnificent view of the village. "Jiraiya, where the hell are you when I need you?" For a moment, she wished she possessed the freedoms her perverted teammate did… but more paperwork brought her out of that.

Thankfully, Anko's arrival saved the blonde woman from the arduous task. "Lady Tsunade," the snake charmer greeted, "I'm here to report on the latest excavation."

"Any news?" She had placed the Mitarashi in charge of the teams scouring sector six as a glorified consultant since she knew things the others didn't. Sadly, things hadn't turned out so well.

Case in point, the woman parsed her lips and shook her head. "Nothing… again."

Tsunade groaned. "Damn it!" She took a few easy breaths and contemplated the next course of action. "We've got nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Um… if I might make a suggestion?"

She nodded her approval. Even conjecture was better than nothing at this point.

"As far as I can figure, it's one of two things. First, the cases are so old that they're no longer relevant."

"…Meaning?"

"Meaning that trying to find anything now is pointless because there's nothing left to find. Everything happened during the first Hokage's rule and died with him."

The slug mistress propped her chin up. "And what's your other idea?"

"That there really is a cover up and whoever's involved is _really_ good at it."

Tsunade chortled at that notion but didn't disregard it- anything was possible in the shinobi world. "Well… you still think anyone's following you?"

Anko grimaced and nodded. "I talked to Kurenai and she still thinks so as well."

The blonde ninja considered this. "_My gut tells me that there are still people involved in this. I hope I'm wrong,_" she knew her gambler's luck, "_But if I'm not, then things could get bad. Real bad._" She thought for a moment longer and addressed her subordinate. "Alright, we'll have to take the hard approach. Go get Kurenai and we'll start going through all the reports ever written since the village's construction."

She blinked in disbelief. "A-all of them?! You can't be serious…"

"Well… maybe not." She didn't want to have to do it either. Even if she assigned every ninja under her command to participate in this endeavor it would still take weeks. "I've got a hunch that if there's anything suspicious, it would be under my grandfather's rule. Nothing odd's really stood out other than those tunnel accidents."

Anko nodded. "I… guess that makes sense. I'll go get…"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune burst in before the snake charmer could finish and held up a slip of paper. "There's an urgent message from Suna! You need to see this!"

"Here," said blonde ordered it turned over by holding out a palm. She took the decrypted note and began scanning it. "Huh… says they had an earthquake," she didn't complete it before commenting.

"That's not it! Keep reading!"

Tsunade did so and her eyes widened. "Shizune!" she ordered with urgent eyes, "Team eight's back by now. Summon them here right now!"

"Yes ma'am!" She bolted from the room.

"And get Kurenai in here as well!" she yelled after the assistant.

"What is it?" Anko was mildly alarmed. "What's it say?"

She handed it over then crossed her fingers before her face. "It's a summary of the report from the Kazekage's sister."

"The envoy girl?" she stated absentmindedly as she read.

"Yes," the aged woman answered simply. She needn't say more; it was all in the message.

The Mitarashi's eyes almost bugged out of her head when she got to the meat of the story. "W-what is this?! Another tunnel system?!"

"Seems that way."

"And what about these enemies?!"

She nodded. "There's no way this is a coincidence, not anymore."

The reptile master put the note to the side. "What are we gonna do about it?! If this is true, then this is serious shit!"

"First," Tsunade kept her cool, "We're going to question team eight to determine their involvement. We'll play it by ear after that." She continued the conversation of arguments and rebuttals for several minutes until the requested individuals finally filed into the room one by one. The young Chunins stood in a perfect line while Kurenai made her way over to a chair and took a seat. "Alright, you three," the blonde Hokage addressed the lower-ranking ninjas, "You were in Suna during their earthquake. Did you notice anything?"

Naturally, Kiba and Shino did not- they were asleep at the time and merely caught the ass end of the tremor. Hinata stiffened ever so slightly but otherwise denied everything. Unfortunately, her superior noticed the subtle posture change and called her on it.

"Hinata," the woman inquired, "You know something we don't?"

"Yes ma'am," she replied as genteelly as she could before relaying the story that Temari told her the morning after the incident in question. She finished her tale to find that the older ninjas didn't seem particularly surprised. "_They're on to something,_" she knew, "_Or they'd be as shocked as Kiba and Shino._"

"What the hell is-?" The Inuzuka was the first to voice his confusion. He unknowingly spoke for the Aburame as well, since Shino was content with barely raising an eyebrow in concern.

"Is that all?" Tsunade cut the loud boy off.

"Yes ma'am." The Hyuuga wanted to get out of here quickly- the longer her stay, the more likely things would go sour for her.

"Alright. Dismissed." Her poker face was plastered on as the younger ninjas exited the office and broke once they were out of earshot. "You two get all that?"

The Yuhi nodded. "It's an amazing story. I wonder if any of it is true?"

"Are you kidding?" Anko stated in response, "A tunnel system in Suna that no one knew about? That's the exact same problem we've got here. I think we're dealing with some kind of organization…"

"Either way," the slug Sannin interrupted the two jonin, "We need to check up on what sources we have. Anko."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Head down to the archives and start pulling out everything during the time the tunnels were built. There might be separate events that we missed. Kurenai."

"Yes, lady Tsunade?"

"Go to the communications office and have them send a message to Suna. I want to talk to Temari in person about this. After that, meet Anko in the archives and start going through all those files with her."

"Yes ma'am." She turned to leave with the snake charmer before turning back. "May I ask what you will do?"

Tsunade regarded her with impassive eyes. "My grandfather's old journals are still around. If there's not anything discernible in the archives, maybe he mentioned something in those…"

--

Kakashi and Tenzou stood in their respective positions at the field of Naruto's specialized training. The Hatake was rather absorbed in his adult novel while the ANBU agent was busy sweating bullets while waiting to take down a berserking blonde.

The silver-haired jonin chuckled at one of the inside jokes of his book as the wind brushed his hair. Being the professional that he was, his guard was never truly down. As such, his senses were always keen even if he himself appeared indisposed. This was such a moment, and his nose cringed as the breeze passed him by. His lone eye sullenly glanced upwind and he addressed his former underling.

"Yamato."

"What?" His manners dropped in the face of concentration.

"You smell that?"

"Huh? Smell what?" His attention was divided, so he couldn't really make an honest attempt at humoring his superior.

A moment passed before Kakashi answered. "We're being watched."

Tenzou's eyes widened and his head swung around. "What?! By who?!"

The Hatake sighed. "Way to go, they're gone now."

He produced an embarrassed grin before returning to the task at hand. "Sorry…"

The Sharingan user didn't pursue it further, although he wondered who cared enough to spy on them. He felt the indescribable nagging in his mind that told him they were being watched, but more than that he didn't know. He returned to his book and hoped that whoever was skilled enough to spy on him and avoid detection was friendly. "_Heaven help us if they're not. I should let Lady Tsunade know about this next time I get the chance…_"

--

The hours passed and the daylight waned and gave way to the moonlit night. As the nocturnal lives of those residing within Konoha continued on, the tunnels beneath their feet remained dark and quiet, as its denizens were few and far between.

Per usual, Hinata snuck into her secret lab and put away her equipment. She passed Shiori and Ichirou and instructed them that she needed another energy device. They excitedly got to work on it and she checked up with Garaza in the cramped wire-laden room that the Nashin controlled. She cocked an eyebrow when she heard gentle laughter emanating from the chamber in question as she stuck her head in.

"Silence," the crimson-haired teen greeted the Hyuuga from her relaxed seat on the floor, "How ya been?"

"Um… fine," she lied. Her pale eyes quickly noted Nuren sitting in the opposite corner with a stoner's smile adorning his features. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"You bet!" Nuren answered without having been addressed. "Power surges!"

Silence waited for an explanation but didn't receive one. "What about power surges…?"

"Just that," he nodded with a smile, "There's been a bunch of small power surges."

"Do you know where?" Why did she always have to pry information out of this druggie?

"Nope!"

Hinata winced and sighed; she didn't feel like getting angry at him. "Fine… was it special in any way?"

"Not a clue!"

"Then how do you know there were any at all?"

He gazed a thousand yards away and painted the air with his palm. "I can see them…"

"_Oh my God…_" She gave up and ignored him. "Garaza, anything?"

She pursed her upturned lips and shook her head. "Not a thing. Everything's been pretty quiet for a while."

The white-eyed genius sighed. "I guess that's a good thing…" She ducked out of the room and proceeded to one of her work stations.

Garaza gave a humble smile to the absent prodigy and turned to the druggie across from her. "Hey, cut her some slack, will ya? She's goin' through a rough time."

"What? Why? I really can see the energy…"

She laughed. "What am I gonna do with ya?"

Meanwhile, the Hyuuga set down two objects she absconded from Suna- the rod with the hooked end and the empty hypodermic needle she took from one of the plaster-caked freaks in the foreign tunnels. She opened up the thick glass tube of the needle, swabbed the interior, and placed the residue sample under a microscope and began analyzing the chemical chains. Hours passed as she identified the substances one by one- she had to cross reference quite a few of them. "_It's weird. Most of these chemicals don't do anything on their own, and a lot of these combinations are counterproductive… but I can't identify a lot of these._" She frowned; there was no way the great genius Hyuuga could accept that there was a substance she could not decipher. Determination still strong, she pulled out heavy textbooks and poured over them. Some of the journals were compilations of other scientific studies while the rest were her own notes and observations. More time passed, but she made no more headway. "_Gah! Alright, something new…_"

She set the sample aside before picking up the metal stick and analyzing it with her Byakugan. Upon first glance there was nothing spectacular about it; it was a simple shaft of metal. She squinted and focused before her eyes widened- she could barely see it, but there was a network of nearly microscopic webbing that lined the exterior of the device. The atomized strings appeared in perfect condition and cascaded into the strange material embedded in the center of the half-hook at the tip. "_What the hell is this thing? Is it a generator?_" She knew the crystal's inner workings were identical to the interior of the undefined matter. Well, almost identical- the item in her hand produced no energy of any kind. It was dead. "_But this is a handle, isn't it? That'd make it a weapon, right? But why would there be something so complicated in a weapon?_" She frowned- the thought of unique weapons reminded her of Naruto and his customized arsenal. "_Goddamn it!_"

Frustration caught up to her with the thoughts of the blonde and she waltzed over to her well-worn couch to take a breather. She crashed into the soft cushion, leaned her head back, and closed her pale eyes. Her lungs expanded as she took in several deep breaths, and she could smell faint traces of the Uzumaki that had been left behind from his many visits. She brought her hand to her face and covered her eyes; the scent alone reminded her of all the time they spent on this very couch whittling away the hours in conversation. She sighed, but the deep pit in her stomach felt no less empty or painful. Minutes passed and she leaned forward and stared into the ground with lifeless eyes.

"Damn it," she finally had to admit it to herself, "I miss him…"

--

The week carried on despite everyone's troubles and brought new ones with it. Currently, the biggest threat facing Konoha was the Akatsuki team. They had recently attacked and leveled the Temple of Fire, taking with it the lives of many. Amongst the dead was a monk with a grand price on his head- Chiriki- and his corpse was missing. Apparently, the hostile duo was interested in the bounty placed on him and was willing to plow through anything in their way to take it.

At least, that was the word on the streets. Temari didn't really know anything about the shifty organization that kidnapped and killed her younger brother, but that wasn't why she was in the Leaf village. No, she was here because of her story behind the earthquake in Suna. "_Someone's interested here,_" she knew, "_That means there's a bigger picture going on. Now if only I knew what it was?_"

She forwent stopping by the Nara household; Shikamaru would probably kill her if she showed up at his door. He could probably do it too- her arm hadn't fully recovered yet, so her skills were still substandard in her book. Rather, she made her way towards the Hokage tower to meet up with the female leader. It wasn't hard- it was the biggest building around.

She strolled through the door to the aged woman's office and was waved in by an expectant Tsunade.

"Shut the door," the slug Sannin stated. The wind user obeyed then approached the desk. "How's your arm doing?"

"It'll heal."

"Want me to take a look at it?"

"No thanks. I'll be fine."

"Alright." The blonde woman seemed resigned. "Take a seat- this could take a while."

Temari frowned ever so slightly; she was already uncomfortable, but she planted her butt in a chair nonetheless. "So… why was I summoned to Konoha?"

Tsunade smirked and threw the girl off with the gesture. "Come on- you're smarter than that. I heard about the earthquake in Suna. I also heard your story behind it." She noted the teenager's discomfort and continued. "I want to hear your side of the story personally."

The wind user had questions of her own first. "Why do you want to know? It should have been in the message Gaara sent…"

"Well, it was short, and I'm sure there are quite a few details that a simple letter can't convey."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why did you bring me all the way out here just to hear a story? I wanna know the reason."

The slug Sannin regarded her with serious eyes and sighed with a grin. "You're a gutsy one, all right. I can't tell you everything just yet, but this is what I know so far…" She then launched into an abbreviated explanation of the tunnel system and sector six to the foreign ninja. Obviously, she left out such things as Danzo's inner workings which sparked an interest in the underground hive and when exactly sector six's deaths and disappearances occurred. "Now you know everything you need to. Anything you tell me could help out Konoha. Please tell me everything you can, and rest assured that I won't think you're crazy."

Temari frowned; she didn't want to divulge her secrets so quickly to someone who hadn't yet gained her trust on the matter. "Lady Hokage, you know that my status as a diplomat only allows for dealings that will mutually benefit our villages. What's in this for Suna?"

Tsunade smirked; this spunky girl reminded her of her younger days. "You drive a hard bargain. We can deal with that later- we'll pay you for the information somehow, but the situation might be time sensitive, so we don't have time to beat around the bush. Besides, I've already told you more than an outsider is allowed to know. Now spill it."

The sand sibling gave it up and repeated her tale for the hundredth time. It was all there- the human bat, the tunnels, the living statues, Jess Burgess, and ,of course, Silence.

The blonde Hokage sat in silent deliberation when the girl finished- she had heard much of this already from Hinata Hyuuga, including the bit about Silence. But hearing about this 'incredible' individual from someone who actually knew her was much different than hearing about it through the grapevine. "_I'm convinced… there are tunnels other than the ANBU headquarters down there and there's someone running things there._"

"Does that… help in any way?" Temari wanted to know if she was of any use.

"Yes," she nodded, "It does. Now… do you want to help out some more?"

She frowned; what more could she do? "Um… sure…"

"Alright, then there are a few more things you need to know." She leaned forward and prepared to divulge everything to the foreign shinobi. "To begin, we have an individual like this 'Silence' girl of yours. We call him 'Curse'…"

--

Danzo was infuriated. He had practically been written out of the agreement with his co-conspirators with his ROOT agents being indefinitely controlled by his shadowy associate. "_How dare he usurp my power?!_" he raged inwardly, "_That wasn't part of the deal! He's supposed to help me gain power over the village; how can I do that without an army?!_" It was for this reason that he called yet another private meeting with Homura and Koharu. He hadn't communicated with them for a while, probably due to the fact that he had no intention of sharing Konoha with them, but now that he was desperate, he needed them. It sickened him to have to rely on others, but he had no choice at the moment.

He approached the current meeting place and made his way to the designated room; he found it odd that they wanted to convene at a local hotel rather than the plush Hokage tower. "_Could it be that even they have been compromised?_" he wondered apprehensively. Keeping these suspicions in mind, he entered the room and sat without greeting the two elderly ninjas.

"Danzo," Homura began, "Why have you decided to call on us now? We were certain that you had… control over the situation." He took care not to mention his anger over being passed over in the supposed 'agreement', but his emotions ran high nonetheless.

"I agree," Koharu stated coldly, "You have been out of touch as of late. Why is that?"

Danzo did not speak for a moment; he knew he had to come clean about his situation. "The ROOT organization has been compromised," he explained calmly, "I no longer control my subordinates."

The elders frowned simultaneously. Homura, being the hothead of the two, voiced his concerns rather loudly. "What do you mean?! Have you been discovered?! Have you divulged any information about us?!"

"It is not Tsunade that has compromised my forces, but rather our mutual associate."

The aged duo's eyes creased. "What are you saying?" the retired female inquired, "Has he betrayed us?"

Silence ensued. "I do not know. One of his subordinates contacted me the night he commandeered my forces and informed me that it is merely temporary, although I am beginning to question that claim…"

"Subordinates?" Homura hissed, "Are you referring to that 'Sten' fellow?"

He eyed him gravely. "I am not."

"What did he look like?" Koharu spoke before her former teammate could rant further.

"It was a young woman who wielded weapons I have never encountered before. She possessed an odd twitch and repeated words at random intervals."

"Did you get a name?"

"She calls herself 'Twenty-three' and refers to her unit as the 'Gene Hunters'."

This fact got the gears in Homura's mind grinding. "A number for a name? Then can we assume that she is part of an organization much like your ROOT program?"

"I do not know," the war hawk replied. "But I do know that our associate does not intend to uphold our agreement the way we had planned." He suddenly felt incredibly drowsy and blinked. It felt like a week had passed before his sluggish state passed and his head shot towards a figure that wasn't there a moment ago.

"Now that one's not true," a man dressed in an overcoat far too large for him grinned as he sat on the windowsill. His felt clothing was rough and incredibly thick- almost as if it was armor- and his features were not extraordinary. If it wasn't for the jacket, he could have easily blended into any civilian population.

"Who are you?" Koharu questioned while the other two males tensed. She was the calmest of the three, and she took the drowsiness as this newcomer's means of unknown entry.

"That's not important," he replied with a humble smile and waved his hand, "But I can tell you that the boss isn't violating the contract."

"How do you know this?" The man's way of casual speech and relaxed mannerisms seemed… familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"Er… hang on." He retrieved a folder from his oversized coat and opened it. "Ah, here we go; the agreement is only to overthrow the current Hokage and place you three in her place. Doesn't say anything about your personal armies."

"Are you one of these 'Gene Hunters'?" Danzo went out on a limb.

He smiled. "That I am. Not too high on the totem pole myself, but I _did_ manage to get in here without you noticing…"

"Who are you?!" Homura had enough of the man's lackadaisical attitude, "And what is your organization planning?!"

"You're askin' the wrong guy- I'm just a foot soldier. I got no idea what the big man's planning. Hell, I haven't even seen the guy…" He began flexing his right arm and glanced at it thoughtfully. A jet of clear mist streamed from a hidden tube and the edges of his lips turned up in satisfaction. "Well, looks like the misunderstanding's been fixed, so I'm outta here."

Homura attempted to move but found the world swimming around his vision as the drowsiness came again. He stumbled and fought to keep his feet planted on the floor, ultimately failing and falling to his knees.

"Oh!" the lazy voice sounded off from the distorted environment, "Koharu, Homura- hope the headaches ain't too bad. It's a nasty side effect…" With that, all traces of the man vanished into thin air and disorientation. It passed soon enough and the three conspirators blinked in confusion.

The elders had heard the stranger's claim and wondered the exact same thing: "_How did he know about the headaches…?_"

But Danzo was concerned about something else entirely. "_He claimed that he is a foot soldier, and yet he does not know what his leadership is planning. He is following orders towards a goal of which he is unaware…_" His experienced mind pieced these facts together and came up with the best conclusion it could while not in possession of all the evidence. "_That sounds like an assassin organization…_"

--

Tsunade sat in her home in automated contemplation. Earlier that day, Asuma Sarutobi had been killed by the Akatsuki ninjas while she had been busy going through the archives in search of an answer to the mysterious sector six. She silently cursed herself for callously allowing one of her subordinates- her teacher's son, no less- be killed while she puzzled over another matter. "_No sense in dwelling on it,_" she sighed in reservation, "_Funeral's tomorrow. I'll… deal with it then._" Sometimes the fact that her subordinates would not return home came to pay her a visit and remind her that she was still a shinobi- one whose death loomed in uncertainty. She shook those negative thoughts from the forefront of her mind to concentrate on the task at hand, but those dark clouds would remain over her for a while.

She set aside the current journal and propped open the next. The slug Sannin had been pouring over her grandfather's personal records in search of mentions that wouldn't be found in the archives. So far she hadn't come up with anything- Hashimara didn't contemplate much on his personal life. There were a few interesting things- opinionated views of Madara Uchiha, her birth, some failed assassin from the Waterfall village- but nothing that really stood out. She flipped through the pages with drooping eyes when she reached a page and saw the words 'tailed beasts'. This caught her attention, so she went back to read the entire entry. She ignored the date and scanned the writings, her eyes widening when some real questions came to her mind.

The passages of interest read: _Today, I discovered a new aspect of the Senju clan's bloodline; we possess the power to restrain great forces. I am disturbed by the fact that I did not discover this for myself, but rather was told of it by the stranger. Furthermore, this man has offered me a great power in the form of nine tailed beasts in the agreement that I impart them between the great clans and villages. I know not what this stranger has planned, and I surely fear his power if he can control the beasts so easily. I will abide by our agreement though, in the hopes that sharing these beasts' power with others will provide a deterrent to war…_

Tsunade stared at the entry in disbelief. "This… is something…" she whispered to no one. "I've gotta let the others know about this…" She donned her oversized jacket and ventured into the night. It may have been late, but her cohorts needed this information as soon as humanly possible.

--

The next morning was sunny and clear unlike the stormy clouds and gentle rains of the day before. A throng on ninjas donned in ebony robes stood before the newest tombstone in memory of Konoha's latest casualty.

Naruto stood at the forefront with his arm over Konohamaru. The comforting gesture was familiar enough for him- he had imparted much of it upon Shia years ago, and it was really all the same when he thought about it. He felt bad for the last of the Sarutobi family; the boy had lost his grandfather and uncle in the span of three years, so the pain must have been tremendous.

A thought flashed through the blonde's mind and he wished that there was someone who could comfort him the way he did Konohamaru. It was good to know that Shia was there for him, but having a peer was much different. He realized that Hinata must have been in this crowd somewhere, and he fought to keep from glancing back to find her. He wanted to see her, but he knew she didn't desire the same of him. "_Not anymore…_"

But for all of the Uzumaki's genius, he couldn't have been more wrong. The Hyuuga in question was indeed amongst the crowd of mourning shinobi, and she very much wished to see him. She did her best to remain reverent towards Asuma; it was difficult because she simply didn't know him very well. Delusions of approaching the blonde prodigy and talking to him entered her psyche, but they felt like dreams- illusions that were pleasant to think about but had no grounding in reality. She sighed inwardly, knowing that not long ago things were different. Times were better and she wasn't alone in her unknown quest. "_But… what can I do about it now?_" She accepted her fate, once again rejecting the conflicting emotions that battled for closure.

When the funeral officially broke and the attendants started home one by one, her legs flinched towards the teen. She halted her limbs; there were too many people around for this. But when the throng dwindled to a mere handful, she swallowed the fearful lump in her throat. She believed her nervousness to be attributed to the fox, but as she got closer all she saw was the boy before her.

Naruto released Konohamaru when the younger ninja kneeled against his uncle's grave alongside Kurenai. He nodded at the tombstone in a final show of respect and turned on his heel to go home. His dulled eyes caught a glimpse of Hinata looking at him then fell to the ground. He continued walking and passed her like nothing had happened.

"Naruto…" she whispered as he came close, "Can we talk?"

He paused for the smallest of moments. "Why? You were pretty clear the first time…" He kept on walking, his eyes warm from moisture that he ultimately failed to contain.

The Hyuuga genius's pale eyes followed the boy's steps and teared up as well. "_I just want to talk to him…_" The logical part of her mind spoke up and told her that maybe it was for the best to sever all ties, but its voice was as distant as the Uzumaki. Salty liquid finally escaped from her eyes and slid down her soft cheeks and she sniffled before departing from the scene.

--

When the blonde in question arrived at his apartment, he plopped down on his couch and sighed hard. It was difficult seeing Hinata after her dismissal of him. "_Maybe I should have talked to her,_" he mused sadly, "_Maybe she wanted to patch things up… or finish them for good…_" Both possibilities were equally valid to him; it was hard to read the girl anymore. He stared at his ceiling with disinterest- the world had been a constant haze for his troubled mind ever since the blue-haired genius rejected him. Kakashi's suggested clone training provided a mind-numbing distraction of repetition, but it wouldn't be a permanent cure. Naruto knew the best way to move on was to put it behind him as quickly as possible. "_But it's been over a week and I still can't stop thinking about it…_"

Shia emerged from the kitchen- that's where she liked to hide whenever the blonde was out- and promptly sat in the teen's lap. She leaned against him and kept her gaze level with the wall on the opposite side. "_He's still hurting…_" she knew, "_Even after all this time, it hasn't gotten any better._" She nodded internally and opened her mouth to speak without looking up. "Curse, do you want to talk about it?"

"The funeral?" he replied sullenly. "Not much to say…"

"You know what I mean."

"Oh… that…" He got the meaning after a second. "Not really."

The auburn-haired girl shook her head and flattened herself against his body. "Then I won't move until you tell me what's bothering you." She knew that Curse talking about whatever was bothering him would invoke unpleasant memories, but it would ultimately lift a weight from his chest. "_I need to do something for him, even it's painful._"

He ignored her ultimatum for a long time, opting out to continue his thousand-yard stare into the ceiling. Long moments passed and he tried to move, but Shia shoved herself into him. "C'mon," he wasn't in the mood for this, "Let me up."

"No," she defied him. It was easy now that she wasn't looking him in the eye.

"Shia…" he groaned.

"Talk about it."

"Shia… I don't want…"

Her hidden seal flared on her back and warmed his stomach; Aiya had something to say. "Quit being indecisive! Talk!" Her voice choked on the final word.

The blonde frowned; was Aiya emotionally involved in this as well? He couldn't tell since the girl faced away from him, so he resigned himself to the aggressor's demands. He put his arms around the girl's waist and muttered. "Alright. I'll do it."

Aiya's head bobbed in a nod and her seal cooled to return Shia. "What happened, Curse? Does it have to do with Silence?"

He nodded while holding her close. "Yeah."

"What happened exactly?"

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment. He knew that in talking about Hinata's rejection of him, he would have to tell Shia of the fox as well. "_And if even she rejects me, then what's left? There'd be no one…_" He swallowed the lump in his throat and began. "She rejected me."

Shia averted her sullen gaze to the left but still didn't face the blonde. "Why'd she do that?"

He gulped; this was it. "Do… do you remember a long time ago when… I tried to send you out of Konoha?"

"You were going on your trip, right?"

"Yeah."

She nodded. "I remember."

"Do you remember when I said that there were a lot of things about me I hadn't told you about?"

"Yeah."

The Uzumaki grimaced; he wanted to stop, but there was no backing out now. His arms squeezed her tighter and he continued. He launched into a hesitant explanation of how the fox attacked Konoha so many years ago and how it was sealed into him as an infant, relating his lifelong treatment due to the beast as an afterthought. "…When I told Hinata about it, she… became afraid of me and… rejected me."

Shia didn't say anything for a moment. She turned around in his arms with a blank face and looked up into his eyes. Her lips then curved into a small smile. "We aren't so different after all."

After his previous admission and its outcome, her reaction came as a surprise. "I… uh… what?"

"We both have something inside us that we had no choice in and can't predict." Her humble smile never faltered.

He gazed at her with hope in his azure eyes. "You're… not afraid?"

She shook her head. "Would a monster be so kind?"

Naruto didn't know what to say, so his tear ducts did it for him. The salty fluid leaked from his eyes and pulled Shia into a tight embrace. She returned the gesture and he was so grateful that she was there that he didn't notice Aiya's seal warming. He was eternally grateful that this girl cared so much for him, but despite the burden lifted from him, he still felt a longing in the pit of his stomach. "_I'm so glad she's here,_" he thought, "_But why couldn't it be Hinata?_"

--

Temari sat in the dusty confines of Konoha's archives flipping through endless stacks of records dating back to the first Hokage's reign. Tsunade had enlisted her help in researching sector six in exchange for healing her arm and whatever aid the Leaf village could provide Suna in the earthquake's aftermath. She yawned mightily; the blonde Hokage woke her up in the middle of the night to tell her about her grandfather's journal entry. "_Wonder if the two are related?_"

She contemplated lying down and taking a nap when two of her 'cohorts' arrived and made her reconsider. Anko had already changed from her funeral robes as had Tsunade- Kurenai wouldn't be doing much of anything for a few days. "Hey," Temari greeted lazily, "You're finally back."

"Yeah," the Mitarashi nabbed a book and began thumbing through it. She sounded tired as well- Tsunade must have interrupted her beauty sleep too. "Anything?"

She shook her head. "Not a thing. No mention of anyone that could be a _stranger_." She emphasized the final word to express annoyance over the lack of description give by the blonde village leader.

"Well sorry my grandfather didn't write enough," said woman took a seat on the floor with the rest of them. A few seconds passed and she spoke again. "I don't think we're about to find anything in these."

"Thank God!" Anko exclaimed, tossed the book over her shoulder, and then stretched. "Any more reading and I'm gonna have an aneurism!"

Temari reserved her irritation as she gingerly shut her report folder. "Why did you go through this in the first place? It sounds to me like whoever was responsible for giving the first Hokage the tailed beasts wouldn't miss something like this."

"They didn't," the sweets lover interrupted, "Well, not all of it. The removed a statement from a ninja building the tunnel system before making him disappear…"

"But they missed my grandfather's personal journals," Tsunade added. "Hashimara mentioned that he 'feared the stranger's power', so he probably had an idea of what he was dealing with…"

"Yeah, that's what I don't get. He said that this 'stranger' guy gave him the tailed beasts. Who the hell just gives away chakra monsters like that?!"

She shrugged. "I don't know, but he mentioned an agreement."

Temari butted in. "Right- it was to split up the tailed beasts with the other villages."

The blonde superior gathered all the evidence in her mind and concentrated. "Curse said he wanted to concentrate on Danzo, and one of Danzo's subordinates claimed that the ROOT network is underground. Given Temari's story, I'm inclined to believe that there's a second tunnel system beneath Konoha…"

"Wait, wait," Anko interrupted, "Wouldn't we have noticed a second system by now?"

She eyed the snake charmer. "Not it everyone who notices it dies or disappears. As I was saying, I believe that Danzo and his ROOT program is located in this second system…"

Temari frowned. "But Danzo's not old enough…"

"…But he's not in charge," she continued unabated, "There's someone else, or rather, some other organization that's responsible. The stranger that gave Hashimara the tailed beasts couldn't be alive today, and for no one to notice his base of operations suggests that he worked with others. And since organizations can continue long after the death of their predecessors…"

Anko picked up on it. "…Would mean that this organization's still up and running." She whistled. "Phew, scary shit…"

The wind user wondered about this 'Danzo' person since she knew very little about him and put forth an inquiry. "This Danzo… he doesn't sound like the kind of guy who takes orders from anyone."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "He's not. And for him to operate out of the second system alongside this other organization would mean that he's working with them. And since he actually cares about the safety of the village and this other group gave the first Hokage the tailed beasts, I'm inclined to think that this shadow organization is… benevolent."

The Mitarashi frowned. "But Danzo ordered Naruto Uzumaki killed…"

This was news to Temari. "He what?!"

"Sorry," the blonde woman apologized, "I forgot to tell you that. But Anko brings up a good point- Danzo believes in protecting the village at all costs, and for him to be cooperating with a second group must mean that he believes they hold the same view."

"So then… it's not really a benevolent group…"

Tsunade rubbed her temple. "I… can't be sure. There's not enough evidence and all these assumptions conflict."

The sand ninja offered her outsider's opinion. "Then just go with what you know- the First's journal."

The well-endowed leader nodded; sometimes it helped to have a third party analyze things. "The so-called 'agreement' between my grandfather and the stranger was that the tailed beasts be split up. If this shadow organization believed the same as Hashimara- that all this power could prevent war- then it means the stranger wanted the world to benefit from it. If, however, he did it with the intention of causing war, then he was trying to get everyone to fight over them."

Anko scratched her head; this made sense, but something didn't feel right about it. "But if the stranger was a good guy, why did the First not trust him?"

"How do you know my grandfather distrusted him?"

"The witness's statement and the witness himself disappeared, but the First's journal didn't. That means the First hid it because he wanted someone to find it."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Then if he didn't trust this organization, why should we?"

--

Naruto awoke in the dead of night in a dreary state of mind, vaguely noticing that he was alone. His azure eyes blinked the extreme weariness away and he realized that Shia was no longer next to him. "_Where'd she go?_" he wondered, his tired mind kicking into gear from persuasive slumber.

He rose from his bed and wandered into the living room in the darkness, the uncluttered windows providing passage with the moon's pale illumination. For a moment, said light reminded him of Hinata's eyes, but he quickly squelched those thoughts; he still wasn't ready to deal with the irrational pain he felt regarding her. As his eyes properly adjusted to the dimness he noticed an out of place silhouette on his couch- Shia sat immobile in complete silence on his aged furniture, not even bothering to spare him a glance.

Curious as his sleepy mind could muster, he plopped down next to her and gazed at her eyes; the moist auburn orbs were practically unreadable as they stared into the abyss. "You okay?" he murmured, his voice scratching upon release.

The disturbed girl rolled her head around to look at him with seemingly blank eyes before turning away once again. An awkward moment passed before she spoke. "Why are you up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he returned, not fully convinced he was speaking to Shia. Despite recent happenings between the two seal masters, the current state of the younger girl didn't quite feel right. "Aiya?" he went out on a limb.

A slight nod of the head confirmed the blonde's assumption. "Can't sleep."

The Uzumaki briefly wondered why the normally aggressive personality was so passive at the moment. "Why's that?"

An even longer silence passed before she responded. "You ever wonder why I know everything Shia does and more?"

"Sometimes," he replied. He never really gave it much thought.

"Every so often, when Shia's consciousness is asleep and mine is still awake, I can take control of this body without the use of that seal." She turned to gaze at the intelligent teen. "It's the one secret I've managed to keep from Shia. Everything else… she has access to." Breaking the glance, she continued with uncharacteristic melancholy. "These few moments are the only times I have to be myself."

"So…" he conjectured, "This is your… private time."

"Yeah," she nodded, "It's the only time that my thoughts are my own."

"Is… something bothering you?" This sullen attitude in the alternate mindset was troubling. Naruto received dead silence in reply, so he took that as a 'yes'. "What's wrong? Do you wanna talk about it?"

Aiya said nothing as she formulated her words; for once, she was grateful that the older boy was so freakishly patient. "When Shia and I are both awake, we share the same experiences. I feel every act of cruelty shown towards her as well as…" she paused, swallowed, and continued, "Every bit of kindness. I go through everything she does."

"I see," he replied quietly. There was no need to speak loudly- the two sat side by side.

"During Shia's early years, I was created in her mind to help her survive. I always guided her through all the crap life has to offer and she always listened to me." Her auburn eyes locked on to the blonde's face in a strange combination of anger and sorrow. "Then you came along. You treated her with kindness and, little by little, she started to rely on you instead of me."

The Uzumaki gave the barest of nods. He had an idea of where this conversation was going- if Aiya shared the same experiences with Shia, then his benevolence to the dominant personality probably left a mark on the estranged mindset as well. "_I never thought I'd see a split personality with an identity crisis…_"

"Now she won't listen to me at all." By this point, an undeniable tone of frustration and sadness poisoned the girl's voice. "So what was I created for? Why do I even exist now?" Then, the strangest of things happened- beads of tears formed in the usually aggressive girl's eyes. "What's the point of living if I don't have a purpose?"

Naruto wrapped his arm around the younger girl, eliciting a slight jolt from her at his touch. He of all people understood exactly what Aiya meant; after all, what was so different about them? Both housed distinctly separate entities within themselves and constantly waged a mental war for their identities. "I know what you mean," he consoled her in a soft voice, stroking her opposing arm with his outstretched hand. "I know exactly what you mean. But," he glanced into her overly moist eyes and bared a humble smile to her attentive features, "It really isn't something to worry about."

"It's what?" A trickle of harshness echoed through her inquiry. Was he mocking her in this vulnerable state? "How the hell can you say that? I don't even have a body- how the hell can I even be aware of my existence?"

"Because you are," he replied gently, squeezing her a millimeter closer to explain his point of view. "I won't lie- life isn't fair. It dealt you a poor hand and left you with no hope for the future. But remember, you're not alone in this world."

Aiya scowled with angry tears slowly escaping. "Thanks…"

"But that's the thing," he cut off her sarcasm, "You're concerned about the well being of someone else, you fight to survive, and you even wonder about your own existence. In that regard, you're a normal person like the rest of us." He smiled and elaborated further. "In fact, you're more human than a lot of people in this world who _don't_ have split personalities." The spite in the girl's eyes receded a bit and was replaced by a fresh onslaught of tears that silently slid down her cheeks. The Uzumaki wiped one side with his free hand and stated, "See? You feel emotions and pain just like everyone else."

"But I still don't have a body to call my own…"

"What about now?"

"I… uh…" she stammered. He had a point there.

"It's not what you are that defines you, but rather what you do. It's moments like this that really count."

"But…" Aiya didn't know how to respond to that, "What… what do I do? Shia no longer listens to me… so… what do I do? How am I supposed to live?"

Naruto smiled brightly at the confused girl in his arm and pressed her nose. "Live for yourself. Take these moments and treasure them as much as you can; don't worry about what the future holds. Sometimes…" he turned away, tears of his own forming in his eyes upon the realization that this advice applied to him as well, "Sometimes you just have to live one day at a time and take it as it comes."

The split personality nodded in understanding then leaned against the blonde, supporting her head in the crutch of his shoulder. A moment of silence passed as notions of all kinds flooded her mind at once before she spoke again. "You said…" she stopped, feeling too nervous to go through with the statement.

"Hm?" he glanced down at her with moist eyes and started absentmindedly combing her hair with the hand that hooked her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"You said…" she swallowed, "To live for myself, make my own decisions. Do what I want."

"Yeah," he choked, still reliving that moment with Hinata in which his world practically crumbled away while trying his best to focus on the disturbed girl. "You've made good judgments so far, so keep doing that. Just do what you think is best."

Aiya said nothing as she laid against the older boy, lost in her own thoughts. Her mind swam with the memories of the blonde that she shared with Shia; the genius's willingness to see them as human despite their screwy status, his concern for their lives, those words he spoke three years ago when he attempted to send them out of Konoha. "_I've always thought he would get us killed. Could I have been wrong?_" She glanced upwards at the boy. "_I've never been wrong before, but… there is a first time for everything._" The currently dominant personality smiled inwardly, honestly content for once in her life.

The prodigy yawned widely. "I'm really tired," he claimed at the end of the sleepy motion, "How about you?"

She leaned all her weight against him with his arm still draped around her and murmured, "Let me stay like this for a little while. It won't last much longer."

Naruto acknowledged the girl and closed his eyes as he shifted into a comfortable position on the couch. His eyes drooped and he eventually succumbed to slumber after a few minutes of exposure to the younger girl's warmth.

Said girl buried herself into his chest and whispered "Thanks, Curse," in the lowest of voices before drifting off to la-la land.

--

The next day started off on a bad note for Tsunade. No sooner had she awoken from her nap than she had to run off and prevent Asuma's students from rushing towards certain death. She lectured them on their foolishness and was about to officially reprimand them for their vigilante actions, but Kakashi stepped in and offered to be their backup in case anything went wrong. "_With everything that's been going on, that's very likely._"

As the newly minted team moved to leave, the Hatake halted and glanced back. "Lady Tsunade," he spoke in a hushed whisper, "There's something I need to tell you."

Her gaze became grave. "What is it?"

"A few days ago, I noticed the presence of someone watching me and Yamato during Naruto's training."

This was problematic. "Friend or foe?"

He shrugged apologetically. "I'm not sure. They disappeared after a few seconds."

"_If they could evade Kakashi…_" She left that thought hanging. "We have a few cases like this already. Thank you for letting me know."

"_'A few cases like this already'?_" he wondered before nodding and turning to leave with his impromptu squad. "Not a problem." With that, he rushed off with the three chunin and left Tsunade at the gates.

"_Chances are whoever was watching him was really watching Naruto. If they're involved with this organization, then they're probably interested in the tailed beasts._" A thought struck her and she slapped her forehead. "Idiot!" she muttered to herself, "_Could it be that it's the Akatsuki?! Is that organization older than we thought?!_"

--

Hours passed, and the immortal freaks belonging to the aforementioned group lied defeated before the Konoha ninja's before them. Hidan cursed Shikamaru with every fiber of his being even as the boulders fell atop his dismembered body, and Kakuzu couldn't move a muscle after having taken the full brunt of the blonde kid and that bizarre sphere of chakra. The ancient man could only look on as the silver-haired Sharingan user approached him to finish him off.

Kakashi stared him down as he sputtered, "How… could a bunch of kids beat…"

The Hatake interrupted him. "Oh, I'm sure we look like a bunch of kids to someone who fought the first Hokage. And to us, you look like a washed-up decrepit old man." He channeled chakra into his palm and brought it to life with crackling electricity. "That's why it's time for you to die. The next generation will always surpass the previous. It's one of the never-ending cycles of life."

Kakuzu glared at him and released a chuckle before his demise. "_I knew we should have paid them more…_" he mused as the sparkling hand dove into his last heart and finally ended his life.

Kakashi stood and spared the corpse a final glance before leaving. He hadn't heard the aged ninja's final thought, so naturally he could never have predicted that Kakuzu was wrong. The ancient shinobi who had fought many battles would pay 'them' with his body and be the only corpse Zetsu never recovered. He disappeared in a flash of rainbow lights when there was no one left to witness it.

--

The sun set on Konoha in the wake of the Akatsuki's actions, and Naruto was not amused in the least. His 'training' had been more or less completed, meaning that he no longer had anything to momentarily distract him from the pain in his heart. He walked home with his arm in a cast- apparently his newest technique was dangerous, even to him. He knew that he wouldn't use it much given the close proximity it required when he had so many others at his disposal, but that wasn't why he sulked.

"_If Hinata was here, she could heal my arm up nice and easy._" Tsunade and Sakura had told him that the damage was at the cellular level and that even they could do nothing to remedy it. Only time would fix the damage until it could do no more. "_Screw that…_" He ripped the cast off after having poured an excessive amount of the fox's chakra into his arm to speed up the process. He didn't usually do this, seeing as how whenever the fox gained a foothold, it liked to dump its influence into him. Once he could move his fingers he nodded in absent satisfaction before staring into the peaceful night sky.

"_But it's not peaceful,_" he knew, "_Nothing's the way it should be. I should be with Hinata… but I'm stuck with this God damn fox!!_" His fist clenched as he grasped the affected limb and squeezed. His hopelessness was catching up to him, and meeting that Akatsuki freak had only driven it home in his mind. "_What else is there?! Akatsuki wants me… Hinata doesn't… Danzo wants me dead…!_" He slammed his fist into a light pole and left a splintered dent. His teeth clenched and his canines grew as his desperation vented into anger. "_Danzo! He's the reason Hinata doesn't want me!_" Irrationality clouded his mind. "_I'll kill Danzo! I'll kill him and destroy the ROOT organization!_"

He stomped off and stormed through his home, unaware that the fox's chakra was reacting to his frustration and seeping through his system. He couldn't hear anything around him as he clambered into his private chamber, not even Shia's worried cries. He ripped off his gaudy orange clothes and hurriedly donned half of his alter ego's clothing before kicking out the grate that separated him from the subterranean hive. He rushed as fast as his feet could take him, unaware of the third tail that was bubbling to life behind him. There was only one thing on his mind at this point.

"_Kill!!_"

--

Hinata plopped down on a bench at Ichiraku's Ramen stand and sighed; she constantly found herself being reminded of him whether she wanted to or not. Case in point, her feet brought her to this place that the blonde frequented.

"_I thought I wanted to forget about him,_" she wished, "_He's dangerous, and yet I can't get him out of my mind?_" She ordered a bowl of ramen and continued her internal debate, knowing that anyone who paid her any mind would see that she was down and hoped that they didn't pry. The Hyuuga was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed a certain white-haired giant sit next to her.

"Hey cutie!" Jiraiya boisterously greeted Ayame, "I'll have whatever you suggest!" He chuckled at the older teen's poorly hidden gag before commenting to seemingly no one. "The ramen here's not so bad. I can see why Naruto likes it."

The undercover genius flinched; why did even the infamous toad sage have to bring up the blonde? "Y-yes," she stuttered with a nervous nod.

"And the view here ain't too bad either," he leered and received a slap from a disgusting Ayame. It didn't hurt much, and he chuckled upon noticing the blue-haired girl turn away from him while attempting to withhold a snort. He smiled. "Good to see you're not all doom and gloom."

Hinata swallowed the laughter and returned to her bowl with a sad smile. "T-thank you, master Jiraiya…"

"That won't do," he ridiculed her, "It's the great toad Sannin whose face can silence even a crying child- the gallant Jiraiya!"

This time, Hinata couldn't hold it in. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she openly laughed at the outburst.

The aging man returned her boisterous laughter with a smirk; he had gotten through to her… kinda. When her enjoyment died down, he turned to his recently arrived bowl of noodles and dipped his chopsticks into the broth. When the Hyuuga did the same, he said, "I go by a lot of nicknames these days- I like 'em. They're cool." He stuffed a mouthful of ramen into his mouth and swallowed. "I'm sure Naruto would think so too if he had any- long names, I mean. Not that short one."

Hinata almost bit her chopsticks in two. Her opalescent eyes went wide and she tried not to stare at the experienced ninja. She failed. "W-what do y-you mean?" She wished her stutter was false that time.

Jiraiya chuckled and answered her without a return glance. "Of course, he's starting that wind affinity training today, so I guess his nickname matches up perfectly. A… Cursed Wind, right?" He nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, I guess that sounds pretty cool."

The shocked genius's eyes resembled dinner plates. "_Did he figure it out?! Holy shit! He figured it out!_"

The man chortled again. "I even heard another one like that while travelling with him, but I don't think it's for him. I mean, c'mon, does Silent River sound like Naruto?" He winked at her to convey his understanding of the situation.

Hinata was almost hysterical; she now knew that the toad master had figured them out. But how? Their masks were flawless… or at least consistent, weren't they? "H-how do you know?" she hissed.

"'Cause I'm the gallant Jiraiya!" He raised an arm in victory then returned to his steaming bowl. "But you know, Naruto doesn't seem like himself lately. And from what I've been hearing, neither have you."

She blinked, totally ignoring the meal before her. "I… uh…"

"So," he spared her an attentive glance, "What happened?"

The female prodigy shifted her gaze to the ground in remembrance; she didn't want to recall this. A few awkward seconds passed before she spoke. "He… told me about the fox."

"I see," he nodded, "And?"

"I… it… scares me. I mean, there's already a lot going on that's dangerous enough without that, and… if his seal failed while he was with me then…" She left that statement hanging in the hopes that the Sannin understood.

Thankfully, he did. "So you're afraid that the seal will break when he's around you."

Her downcast stare remained steadfast as she nodded in affirmation.

Jiraiya stuck a lip out in consideration before consuming another mouthful of noodles. "It _is_ risky, I admit. Heh, training him to use the fox's chakra almost killed me once too."

"Then you know how dangerous he is!" She looked him in the eye with concern etched into her face; this was clearly an unsettling matter for her. "You know what could happen!"

He responded with a smile. "That's true. If the seal should fail, then he'll be a danger to himself and everyone around him. He's proven that a couple of times already." Swallowing another batch of ramen, he continued. "But I have a feeling it goes a little deeper for you. How many risks are you already taking?"

"How many?" she repeated. "There's… a lot. I don't really know…"

"And I assume every one of them is life-threatening?"

She considered this for a moment. "Probably…"

"Then what's one more?" He noted her curious gaze and expounded. "If you're already risking your life, then why not risk it with someone who fights the same battle?"

"But… but if he loses control…"

"Hinata," he regarded her seriously, "I've seen the seal myself, and I know how it works. It takes a lot to weaken it and it's easy to reinforce. Naruto might be dangerous, but he has to let it take control. If he has someone he cares for by his side, then he'll fight it. Besides," he added to the side, "You're already taking a risk by being in the same village."

The Hyuuga regarded the Sannin with a considerate gaze before returning to the cooling noodles. She stirred the ramen with her chopsticks in contemplation; she understood what the elder ninja said and it made sense, assuming it was true. "_But there's no reason for him to lie, is there?_" she debated, "_I don't see why he'd lie about almost dying, so if he wouldn't go that far, then why embellish anything else?_" Whether she realized it or not, Jiraiya's words had an impact on her. Was he right about the blonde? Was Naruto really not as unstable as she believed? Could things go back to the way they were? Could there still be something for her and Naruto?

Hinata planted her chopsticks down and swung her feet over to leave. "I've… gotta go." She spared one final glance towards the Sannin and mumbled, "Thanks." With that, she departed from the scene and promptly melted into the night.

Jiraiya simply smiled to himself. "Not a problem." A thought struck him and his lips widened into a leery grin. "Just as long as I get a camera in the women's hot springs…"

--

Mere minutes passed and brought the Hyuuga genius to the blonde's door. Her heart beat hard at what she was finally forcing herself to do, and she hesitated for only a moment before pounding on the door. When no answer came, she toned it down and knocked a little more gently. "_I have to talk to him… I have to see him…_" She frowned as she rapped against the wooden frame for a third time.

Answering her unspoken call, a set of small footsteps emanated from within and the door swung open. "S-Silence!"

"Shia!" Hinata yelped back in surprise. Something was wrong; she could see it in the girl's auburn eyes. "What's wrong?!"

"It's Curse!" She aimed a finger at the open trapdoor that led to his secret chamber. "S-something's wrong with him!"

Her mouth dropped open and her hands went to cover it. "_No… it can't be…_" Visions of a horrible monster flooded her mind and arrested her breath for a moment. "Where is he?!" she inquired loudly as she bolted into the room.

"I-I don't know!" Shia's eyes watered- she was scared. What happened to her Curse to cause such a malevolent change? She was too alarmed to even care that the person who broke the boy's heart stood before her- right now, anyone's assistance was welcome.

The Hyuuga stared down the hole that led to the blonde's room and noted that almost every trap had been sprung and was dripping with blood. She could make out a large crimson smear at the bottom as she thumbed the scroll in her pouch. Planting the scroll on the ground, she released her equipment and donned her armor as quickly as she could before leaping down the cramped hole and landing at the bottom with an audible crack of the mats beneath her feet. Her pale eyes gazed in horror at the wrecked room; it looked like a maelstrom had moved through. She found the gaping hole that led to the tunnel system and found a blood trail snaking into the darkness. Without thinking, she bolted after the organic markers with worry building in her system.

"_Please… not before I could talk to him! Not before…_" she bit her lip, "_Not before I could tell him how I feel…_"

* * *

Dun Dun Duuuuuun!

Who did the first Hokage strike a deal with?

Are they benevolent or not?

And how will Hinata face her fears of the fox? (hey, alliteration...)

Little better? If you read between the lines, there's actually a lot of actual plotline and setup...

Hope you enjoyed it! Have fun deliberating, if you choose to do so.


	35. Night of Gene Hunters! Sadness! Romance?

Not quite as long as the last chapter, but I think ya'll forgive me. It's pretty long anyway.

Enjoy.

* * *

Hinata moved through the caverns like water- fluidly and gracefully. Her Byakugan was active, but she didn't need a bloodline to follow the carved walls in the blonde's wake. Every passing moment made her soul sink that much further; had Naruto succumbed to the fox? "_Did I wait too long?! Am I too late?!_" She uttered a silent prayer to the heavens as she moved; she didn't want to end things this way. "_Even if it does end eventually, I don't want it to end now! Not like this!_"

The Hyuuga had a fair idea of where the Uzumaki was travelling, and the rampaging teen's marks only confirmed her suspicions. "_He's headed for the ROOT compound…_" Her armored foot graced the ground and shifted to shove off when she felt a sudden tremor. Memories of Suna's tunnels flooded her mind and she knew that only a mighty force- possibly one she couldn't handle- was responsible. She gulped, fearing that it was Naruto. Her pace quickened and her worries mounted when she felt another blast of malevolent power surge through the disfigured cavern. She was nearing the source of a great and evil chakra, and she didn't allow herself to stop and reconsider going up against it. "_Be strong, Hinata,_" she assured herself, "_Do it for him…_"

--

Tsunade sat in her office; it was getting late and she was becoming irritable. She sighed for the umpteenth time and glanced out the window.

"Lady Tsunade," Anko replied from her seated position, stacks of yellowed papers on her lap, "You look tired."

The slug mistress spared the Mitarashi a glance and noticed that Temari shared a similar gaze. "Yeah, I'm beat. You guys probably are, too."

"Amen to that," the blonde teen nodded instantly. She obviously wanted to split as soon as possible.

The female Hokage chuckled. "Alright, you guys head home. I'll stick around a little longer and- what the hell?!" A sudden tremor rang through the entire tower and interrupted her chain of thought. Its intensity wasn't dangerous but it was noticeable, and it repeated once more before subsiding entirely.

"What was that?" Anko inquired in a subdued voice and wide eyes.

Temari released the breath she unconsciously withheld; this was all too familiar. Tsunade noted the sand shinobi's reaction and immediately knew something big was going down. "You two!" she ordered, "Start on civilian evacuation! The whole village probably felt that, and if people panic, things could get worse!"

"Yes ma'am!" the snake charmer affirmed the order while her blonde counterpart simply nodded. She bolted from her chair and charged through the door with Temari in tow, almost bumping into a disgustingly familiar face. She backed up, muttered an incoherent apology, and continued on her way. The blonde sand sibling merely regarded the two elderly people with a cocked eyebrow before following after Anko.

Tsunade bit her thumb as she stared out the window. Sure enough, lights were snapping on everywhere as the denizens of Konoha were alarmed at the mild tremor. "Damn it," she mumbled, "Let's hope this doesn't get out of hand…" She heard untamed footsteps behind her and shot her head around only to relax upon finding Homura and Koharu standing before her. "Now's not the time," she warned them, "I'm busy right… now… are you okay?"

Both the elders clung to their heads with all their strength. Their posture suggested great pain and they could only stammer a response. "My… head," Homura sputtered, "It… hurts so… so bad…"

"Oh God," Koharu was having an equally difficult time mastering her torment. "It… hurts!"

"What's wrong?" The blonde medic leapt into action. She may have hated these two's guts, but she was still a medic by trade. "Where does it hurt? Your head?" She approached the old man first and frowned when she noticed something wrong with his arms- long vertical cuts were forming all the way across his forearms. "What the hell…?"

"The pain…" the aging man's voice grew with his bizarre injury. "It hurts!" He snapped his arms at the head ninja and long blades sprang out from within the flesh.

The female Sannin ducked just in time and delivered a solid punch to the man's gut. He flew back, slammed into the wall, and then righted himself as if nothing happened. Her eyes darted between Homura and Koharu to find the elderly woman in much the same shape- blades now protruded from her arms and she had this vacant glint clouding her eyes.

"_What the hell's going on?!_" She didn't have time to contemplate further before the seemingly possessed elders lunged at her again.

--

Jiraiya was enjoying yet another casual night of peeping on the lovely ladies in the bathhouses. He felt a general sense of accomplishment, seeing as how he had all but remedied the Hyuuga's doubts, and this was his personal pat on the back.

He leered with a lecherous grin when he spied one particularly gifted woman walk by the knothole. His smile grew from ear to ear as he pulled out his notepad now that his inspiration was in full swing, but his eyes fell when the women began dozing off. "_What the hell?_" he wondered as the rest of the women went limp with unconsciousness in the steamy room. He felt his breath becoming taxed and heavy before leaping into action. "_Something's wrong,_" he knew, "_I haven't felt this off since Tsunade poisoned my drink…_" He fought the intense drowsiness as his vision swum before his eyes, and he scanned the horizon like a drunk until he found someone staring him down.

"Evenin'," a casual voice greeted him, "The toad Sannin, Jiraiya. So nice to meet ya!"

He eyed the stranger in the abnormally thick jacket. "Who are you?" he kept his voice steady even though his feet wouldn't do the same.

The newcomer waved it off. "Ah, that's not really important. My bosses kinda jumped the gun a little, so I gotta keep you company for a while."

The legendary ninja drew a kunai and leveled it at the stranger. "I'll ask one more time: who are you?" His distorted vision noted someone staggering out of the bathhouse in nothing more than a towel, and his normally perverted mind panicked that it was a civilian. "_Wait, no… that's, uh… Shizune. Doesn't look like she's holding up very well either…_"

Said medic woman was worse off than Jiraiya. She recognized the symptoms of some kind of widespread anesthesia in the bathhouse and barely kept herself awake so she could find the source. Her drunken eyes laid on the first living thing closest to her; a strange man who looked like a civilian in an unusually thick and rigid overcoat. "You…" she began before the individual raised a palm into her face and blasted a stream of smoke into her nose. She fell flat on her butt from the surprise and blinked at the apparent hostile. "W-what are you?" she stammered as the man's humble smile melted into a glowing grin that spanned his entire face. Her legs fought to scoot her body away from him when his features morphed into something inhuman; his lips parted in shrill laughter and ebony bile oozed from between his teeth and empty neon eyes. She raised her arms against the shimmering hallucination and screamed and shook in terror.

Jiraiya couldn't do a thing about it. "You're a poison user," he stated dully. "_Damn it! One of the worst possible matches for me…_"

"Like I said," he turned back to the monumental shinobi with a pleasant smile, "I'll keep ya company for a while…"

--

Anko and Temari charged headlong through Konoha; something wrong hung in the air. "I don't like this," the Mitarashi commented lowly, "Not one bit."

The sand sibling eyed their surroundings. "Didn't the Hokage tell us to evacuate civilians? Where the hell are we going?"

"Kurenai's place," the snake charmer replied, "She's alone right now, and I got a hunch she's in more danger than- what the fuck?!" A kunai flew right by her face and scratched her nose. Had she been an inch or two forward…

Temari brought her fan to bear but couldn't find any targets. "Where'd that come from?!" She scanned the horizon and quickly found someone staggering out of an alley. Her eyes narrowed; something was wrong with this guy. He staggered like a drunk with his arms held away from his body but smiled like a maniac at the same time. Deciding to strike first and ask questions later, she beaned him in the temple with her unfolded weapon. He crumpled to the ground…

And someone else appeared in their windowsill and threw a shuriken at her. "Shit! Where'd he come from?!" She swung her fan again and demolished the side of the building, but another civilian appeared from within his home and lobbed yet another weapon at her. "_What the hell's going on?!_"

Anko watched in confusion; if all these random people were hostiles, then why didn't they attack at once? Why one at a time? She unsheathed a handful of kunai and prepared to toss them at the next thing that moved. Her eyes spotted another civilian emerging from a doorway and her arm responded…

But the figure leaned against said doorway for support and called out to them with an unattached voice. "Not such a good idea…"

Temari almost swung her fan at him but stopped when she found the Mitarashi in the way. "Anko, move!"

"Don't be hasty." The stranger didn't appear worried in his stupor. "You don't want to kill any more civilians, do you?"

The dango lover's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" she inquired apprehensively.

He suddenly stiffened and blinked in confusion. "W-where am I? How did I get out here?"

Anko was about to drive the blade through the man's skull while he put on this ruse but halted when another kunai crossed her path from another direction entirely. She whipped around and glared at a shadow atop a roof, squinting to find that it was a fellow shinobi. "What the hell are you doing?! You almost hit me!"

But Temari was slowly figuring it out. Every opponent acted in the same lethargic manner, and they didn't attack all at once. Almost like they were being hypnotized one at a time… "Anko, wait! Look at him!"

The Mitarashi checked her temper for but a moment and glared at the seemingly drunk ninja. She lobbed an experimental kunai at him and he staggered out of the way. "_They're all the same…_" she put the pieces together as well. "Temari, hit him with the fan!"

The blonde teen didn't need to be told twice. She swung her massive weapon at the man and clipped him and the edge of the roof with the same breeze. The affected ninja fell out of sight on the rooftop before his groans of pain alerted them to his sudden confusion. No sooner had the sand sibling prepped her fan for another swing than a civilian dropped right behind her from an overhead balcony and took a swing at her with a kitchen knife. She easily dodged the poor swing and planted a foot in the woman's face, frowning when she realized it was a mere housewife. "What the hell's up with these people?!"

Anko checked the cramped buildings with suspicious eyes. "I think… this is an old Yamanaka technique…"

--

Kakashi and Tenzou bounded across rooftops and dodged between the various heightened buildings of Konoha for their lives. Mere moments after they felt the tremor, they knew Tsunade would want to see them, so they made way for the Hokage tower. Shortly after that, however, they came under attack from tiny slivers of metal that flew impossibly fast.

"Kakashi!" Yamato called from his temporarily safe position, "Can you see the enemy?!"

The Hatake glared at the horizon with his implanted Sharingan before ducking and narrowly avoiding a thumb-sized slug of metal going through his skull- it painfully raked his scalp, though. "I think they're on the Hokage tower!"

"Are you sure?!" He had already been clipped a few times in the shoulder. The wounds wouldn't kill him, but they burned like fire and were already slowing him down.

Kakashi glanced out from behind his cover and confirmed his belief. His gifted eye noticed the slightest of movement in the shadows atop his superior's building before he ducked back in time to avoid having his head pop like a watermelon. "Yeah, I'm sure!"

Tenzou grimaced and tightened his grip on the painful injuries in his shoulder. "I won't make it that far! I'm bleeding pretty badly here and it's slowing me down!"

The silver-haired jonin considered the situation for a moment. He knew that his partner needed medical attention and that lady Tsunade wouldn't be available since she was supposedly in her office, so that left… "_Shizune. She mentioned earlier that she was going to the public bathhouses tonight, so she should be there._" He didn't pause to consider why she specifically told this fact to him of all people, but he refused to pry further. "Yamato! Go find Shizune at the bathhouses and get yourself patched up! I'll cover you!" With that, he charged from his cover and kept his bloodline eye open for the thumb-sized slugs whizzing his way.

Tenzou obeyed, but the moment he stepped out and began running he received one of the metal shards in his leg. "Shit!" he swore as he limped behind a stone pillar, "You suck at covering!" He controlled his voice and began evacuating the scene as quickly as he could with such small yet agonizing injuries.

Kakashi watched him leave then turned back to the tower in question. "Well then, now it's just you and me…"

--

Hinata arrived at the usually hidden entrance of the ROOT compound to find said doors nowhere in sight. Her sharp eyes saw clear lacerations around the opening where the blonde attacked the door as well as a few warm embers here and there, but no evidence that there was ever a door remained. She grimaced and ran into the open hallway before her.

The remnants of battle instantly met her sight. Blood smeared the walls like so many coats of paint and mutilated bodies were dotted the dim landscape. There would be a limb here, a torso there, and a head or two hanging around somewhere else, but intact corpses were too much to ask for. "_My God, he really has succumbed to the fox…_" Her mental voice was more worried than anything else- not that she had to confront this monster, but rather for the blonde's safety. Her resolve unwavering, she continued onward.

The honeycombs of the ROOT complex were a mess. Entire passageways had collapsed and room after room was choked with rubble and dismembered bodies. Bones ripped from flesh riddled the walls, flung into the hard stone by an amazing force, and their corresponding owners weren't far from them. As Silence ventured further, she felt this aura of impending evil weigh upon her shoulders. She knew it was the evil chakra's presence causing this, and the sheer malevolence of it was enough to frighten any sane man. Fortunately for her, she was no man… and sanity was probably a little out of reach at this point, too.

She hurried through trembling passageways as the ground shook and the walls cracked under the pressure. "_Did he slaughter the entire ROOT organization?_" she wondered, having not come upon a living agent of said group. As if by command, her Byakugan detected movement in an intersecting hallway and she unfolded her shaft of a spear in preparation. Seconds ticked by and a group of eight masked ninjas crossed her path, although they didn't seem privy to her. The Hyuuga contemplated engaging them from behind- an excellent flanking maneuver- but decided against it. "_I'm here to rescue Naruto, not deal with the ROOT._"

Knowing that this handful of odd shinobi was probably headed towards the scene of their destruction, she followed them. Of course, she kept her distance so they wouldn't notice, and every time they turned a corner she would wait until they were at the opposite end before continuing after them. As she stalked her handy prey, she was mildly distracted by the increasing destruction around her. Her previous incursion into the rogue outfit revealed that, while messy, it was fairly organized and kempt. The interconnecting passages and their series of rooms weren't a chaotic mess; complicated, yes- but there was a method to the structural madness.

But no longer. Her superior eyesight, while having trouble focusing on anything other than the massive signature emanating several levels below her, noticed that all the chambers she had seen previously had either collapsed or were hopelessly cut off. "_He really did a number on this place…_" Byakugan blazing, she noted more movement- the group she had been trailing was no longer alone. Pockets of the possessed masked shinobi poured from nooks and crannies with inhuman coordination, and she soon found herself surrounded by enemies who ignored her in favor of an unknown location.

She held absolutely still in her family's standard combat stance, spear in hand. Uttering a silent prayer that this many hostiles would leave her be, she sighed in relief when the heavens answered her favorably. "_Looks like they're all interested in wherever they're going. It has to be Naruto- it can't be anything else!_"

With that in mind, she slowed her pace so as to not attract attention and scooted along the wall. By this point the terrain was no longer smooth and stable, and her footwork born of the Hyuuga family's training style came into play. She methodically danced around the rubble while keeping her pearly eyes peeled for attackers. She froze when a band of ROOT agents dropped from a hole in the ceiling right next to her and bounded away. Two of the masked enemies stopped though, and they swiveled their bodies to look at her with blank eyes. "_Oh, that's creepy…_" Hinata wondered if remaining still would do anything, but they didn't move either. She stood there for several minutes before they whipped around and ran off in perfect synch, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief. "_That was close…_"

She was instantly jolted from her thoughts by another violent rumble. This time, however, it was closer… _much_ closer. "Shit!" she swore when the ground beneath her armored feet heaved upward and almost crashed into the ceiling. Her superior eyesight noted tiny streams of malevolent chakra seeping through the newly formed cracks and fissures in the floor, and a second later she was scrambling for solid ground. Out of instinctual desperation, she jammed one end of her spear into a crack in the ceiling and held herself in place as the floor crumbled away. "Oh my God…" she muttered under her breath as the horizon shifted beneath her.

The floor and surrounding hallways and chambers utterly collapsed. Huge sections of thick stone fell into jagged patterns and the contents of any affected chambers littered the scene. Surprisingly, quite of few of the enemy ninjas didn't die- there weren't many casualties, and those who were unfortunate were all merely crushed by the rubble. The blue-haired genius felt her weapon loosen as the fissure in the ceiling gave way and she angled herself in midair so she could safely drop onto a makeshift tower of debris. She landed and instantly scanned the view for further enemies, her jaw dropping now that she saw the full scope of the collapse.

She wasn't at the epicenter, not by a long shot. The center of the upheaval was at least a hundred meters ahead of her, and she was merely caught at a weak point on the outskirts. Before her laid absolute darkness; all the dim lights were obliterated, and yet that didn't stop the ROOT agents from scurrying forward alongside their comrades. She concentrated ahead and her vision pierced the darkness and chaotic rubble. Pillars of stone and skeletons of steel muddled her sight as a rolling environment of debris cascaded into hills of destruction.

"_He's close,_" she swallowed nervously, "_I can see his chakra signature…_" Her mind blanked out as she swiftly waded through the sea of dust and rock and metal; she had no inkling of how much time had passed. Slowly yet surely, she neared what appeared to be a giant hole that looked a lot like the Hub, albeit much larger. "_I can see Naruto's chakra down there, too…_"

She ducked when a slew of ROOT ninjas leapt over her and descended freely into the vertical passage. Glancing across the chasm, she noted the other waves of hostiles doing much the same; they were obviously prioritizing targets if they had yet to attack her when she was so close to the source of their impending demise. "_He's on the other side of this,_" she eyed the ridge several feet from her prone form. Anxiety and fear gnawed at her system, urging her to turn back rather than face the rampaging blonde. "_No! I can't turn back now!_" With that, she forced her feet to scramble her to the edge and audibly gasped when she found the blonde in question.

Naruto stood atop a mountain of rubble and corpses that had filled much of the chasm. He bled from every available surface, and the fox's chakra coated his body with the crimson fluid like so many cans of paint to give the appearance of fur. Four tails swung around his crouched form and his blank eyes glared at the many enemies attacking him in unison. A band of sixteen masked ninjas, all dropping from separate points high above, descended on him with blades drawn in an ornate circular pattern. The cold steel penetrated no flesh, but the teen instantly retaliated by swinging an arm and slamming the attackers into the walls with the singular attack. Many of the hostiles were crushed to death by the force of the blow, but the others disregarded their lethal injuries and continued onward with their arriving comrades.

Hinata observed this one-sided war without budging an inch. She felt incredible pressure weighing on her soul, as if the slightest movement would flatten her innards into pancakes. "_I have to go in soon,_" she analyzed, "_But the ROOT agents will still be around if I bring Naruto back… if I can bring him back…_" That last notion struck a chord; was it possible for someone like her to return the Uzumaki to sanity? "_Only one way to find out._"

She scuffled to her feet and prepared to leap into the deadly pit when the Uzumaki raised an arm and slammed a fist into the ground. The chamber shook violently, and a wave of malevolent chakra pulsed through the hive. Silence leapt from her perch when the rock exploded from the sudden pressure and sailed into the wind, unable to obey gravity until the forceful energy dissipated. As she was propelled upwards, her acute eyes saw that this was the blonde's method of collapsing the tunnels; a tremor shook from his lowered position and undermined the levels around him, harkening the further collapse of three more floors. The debris slid in to bury him but he simply swatted it aside like a gnat; mere rubble could not stop him as he was.

The Hyuuga slowed and finally succumbed to gravity. Knowing that a fall from this height would kill her, she unraveled the cable wound around her stomach, coiled it around her folding spear, and lobbed the bladed shaft into the nearest cliff edge. It worked, and she halted with a jerk before bolting herself to the wall with chakra-laced fingertips. Now that she was out of immediate danger, she continued observing the berserking blonde as he progressively dug into the rubble beneath him.

After a while, the bottom of the chasm gave way and the Uzumaki fell into another chamber. Hinata's pale eyes widened when she saw this- her advanced vision hadn't penetrated anything beyond the stone floor until now. A swell of ROOT ninjas fell with him, but no more arrived after them. "_That must be the last of them…_" She nodded to herself; the time to act was almost upon her.

She retracted her spear and cable and rapidly descended to the rubble below. Once her feet touched down she approached the pit, the logical portion of her mind whimsically noting that it resembled an oversized ant lion trap. Utilizing her Byakugan, she peered into the hold and frowned at what she saw.

The walls in this hidden interior were lined with uncountable numbers of pipes. Steam hissed from certain intervals, and Silence recognized their design as that of an organ. "_That's a big organ…_" Scrutinizing the locale further, her eyes followed the reflective metal tubes to their point of origin and frowned upon locating it. "_Who's that?_" she wondered, eyeing an individual who wore a pale mask that hugged his features as his hands danced across a silent keyboard. Focusing on the stranger, she watched as his fingers graced the ivory keys in swift yet cautious rhythms, and her peripheral vision noted how groups of the dwindling ROOT agents moved with every stroke. "_He's controlling the ROOT,_" she concluded, "_Danzo would never let someone control his subordinates like this; he's not the one in charge._" Her brow furrowed as the blonde proceeded to wreck the room without resorting to another blast- apparently the lack of enemies meant there was no need for enormous destruction in his distorted mind.

The Hyuuga briefly wondered if the unusual masked man pulling the strings was connected to Jess Burgess; both seemed to operate by controlling others, though their methods were vastly different. She watched with mounting anxiety as the remnants of the ROOT organization were struck down and burned away by the Uzumaki's hands, knowing that she would have to jump in soon. When the final possessed hostile was cleaved in four, she dropped onto a rough outcropping created by the blonde's explosive entry and set her folded spear to the side- she was not here to kill her fellow prodigy, and it would only get in the way of her mobility.

The masked man at the bottom glanced up without a sound, silently noted that his temporary puppets were finally gone, and raced his hands across the keyboard before him. Contrary to its previous use, the pipes on the walls came alive and rang out with grandiose melody. Phantos knew in his mind that there was no more he could do, so it was time for the finale. He felt an intense heat build above him and ignored it; there were a mere handful of keys left to caress before the play came to an end.

Naruto responded to the sudden noise by flinging spheres of blood and chakra from his body. His tails bent before his face and gathered the unholy energy as the pipes reverberated around him, and when he compressed the ball of intense power, his mouth split open and he swallowed it. The intensified chakra sphere detonated within his belly and he angled his head downward, released it, and obliterated everything within eyeshot.

The blast blinded Hinata's senses for a moment as it scraped away everything it touched. When her vision corrected itself from the overload, her pale eyes widened to find the entire lower half of the cylindrical chamber gone… and replaced by the largest blast doors she had ever seen. "_Those are here too?!_" She remained stunned for a few seconds before shaking some sense back into her head- she couldn't afford to lose it now. Focusing on the blonde below, she ran for his platform of pipes and steel, ready to do what she came to do. Thankfully, the Uzumaki was oblivious to her existence as he focused on the annihilation of the offending chamber.

But for every upside there is a downside; Silence didn't know what to do at this point. She yearned to bring back the genius she knew from the fox's influence, but she had no idea how. Out of desperation, she focused her bloodline on the teen and squinted hard to find the fox's seal. Sadly, the demon's energy overwhelmed her pale eyes, but she noticed a tiny pattern swirling outward from his abdomen. "_That might be the seal,_" she concluded, "_But it might not be. There's only one way to find out…_" Without making a sound, she approached the berserking blonde and wrapped her arms around him. Her flesh instantly warmed to an uncomfortable level as her armor heated from the fox's power and her leather bodysuit began flaking away. She accessed the crystal housed in Yin and Yang's frame and channeled as much of its power as she could through her body and into her arms. Her fingers dug into the boy's supposed seal and she began the arduous process of forcing the demon's power back through brute force.

Unfortunately, Naruto's possessed mind didn't take kindly to this. The moment she laid hands on him he began flailing about to shake her off. When that proved ineffective, he began bashing her with his fists and whipping her with his tails. These actions also proved fruitless, although not for a lack of trying.

Hinata's armor survived the onslaught with deep dents and trenches and she could feel muscles bruising and bones breaking from the pressure. She grimaced at the pain and did her best to shut it all out; all that mattered was returning the Uzumaki to his proper state. An elbow smacked her in the shoulder and she felt something crack, her arms remaining steadfast but her feet faltering at the pain.

The possessed prodigy acknowledged this momentary lapse in strength and acted on it by leaping from his position and into the wall behind him. The power surging through him enabled a breakneck speed; surely the full force of the blow would knock the assailant unconscious.

But it wasn't to be. The Hyuuga did slam into the wall, but her armor and Yin and Yang cushioned the blow as much as metal was capable of providing. Apparently, the housing on her modified top of death cracked a bit- a sudden wave of untainted chakra rushed over her and she couldn't contain it all. Granted, the crystal was a bottomless pit of power, so it wouldn't dry up anytime soon, but her sight was fluttering and she wondered if she could hold on much longer. She concentrated on pouring a sudden glut of chakra from the machine shard into Naruto's cursed seal and did so… with disastrous consequences.

The fox felt the surge of power attempting to force his influence back. It reacted by unconsciously screaming at its host to slam the girl into the wall harder. Curse was in no state of mind to resist, so he obeyed. He lurched forward and reeled back. Then he did it again. Then again. And again…

Each blow felt like it was growing in intensity; Hinata didn't know if she would remain amongst the land of the living much longer at this rate. Her flesh felt cold; she glanced at her armor and found the outer layer bubbling. The logical portion of her mind dully noted that her flesh was burning away, and the heat was so intense that her nerves had died and could no longer transmit the sensation of heat. The edges of her vision darkened and filled with veins. Her sharp mind took in the fact that her bloodline had been deactivated during this ordeal without urgency; it was an inconsequential matter by now. The Hyuuga's pale eyes felt hot and her body felt limp; was she even holding on to the boy anymore? She checked- she was, but barely. It was now a battle of mind over matter, her resolve versus her instincts. She felt extraordinarily sleepy and knew that if Naruto didn't return to her within the next few seconds it would be over for her.

With this in mind, she knew that this might be her final chance to say anything to him. Swallowing what felt like a million times to moisten her throat, she leaned her face forward to the Uzumaki's ear and whispered the words she wanted him to hear. "N-Naruto," her voice cracked, "I-I'm sorry… please c-come back to me…"

And that was it. Her vision faded and she found it odd that she was still conscious- at least as far as she could tell. "_Was that all a dream?_" she mused, "_How much of it was a dream? Was it my life? Am I really just some girl waiting to wake up from all this? Is… is Naruto just a dream too?_" She wandered for what felt like an eternity in this hallucinogenic trance; unsure what was reality and what wasn't. Was she really a genius ninja named Hinata Hyuuga? Or was she not really a prodigy like she believed? Or was that still true and Naruto was from her imagination? What if she was insane and unable to differentiate between her reality and the truth? "_What if… Naruto never really existed…?_"

That thought filled her with morbid dread and she instantly wished it wasn't the case. "_No! That can't be true! If it's not, I don't want to wake up!_" She wailed in anguish at the notion that her life was a lie and felt… strange. An odd feeling of awakening washed over her and she realized that, whatever her reality was, she was about to find out.

Her pale eyes fluttered open and screwed shut in pain; they were unbearably dry. Her arms instinctually twitched to cover the hot sensory organs to shield them from the invisible heat but they wouldn't move- there was an intense weight holding them at bay. For a moment, Hinata felt absolutely relieved; that weight was her scarred and melted armor. She then knew she was alive and was grateful for that. "_And if I'm still alive…_" She moved to open her eyes again but her eyelids did not obey- they knew better. Annoyance streaked through her mind and she attempted to activate her Byakugan. It drained her of what little strength she had left and she barely saw anything. She then came to the distant conclusion that her flesh was still numb from the burns, but then what was this sensation of touch around her eyes?

"Don't do that," a raspy voice ordered sullenly. She realized it spoke of her wasting energy trying to use her bloodline, so she obeyed. The veins receded and she was once again blind to the world.

She opened her mouth to speak and was amazed that she could. "N-Naruto?" She heard a grunt in response. "I-is th-that you?"

"Yeah," his dry voice replied. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain. "Y-you were a-able to push the fourth tail back be-before you passed out. I d-did the rest."

She breathed a sigh of relief; her voice failed, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing at the moment. She felt something swirling on her stomach and wondered what it was.

The blonde said nothing for a moment. He seemed to be doing something that took a good bit of concentration. After a while though, he broke the silence. "I heard you."

Now it was her turn to say nothing. She knew it was her fault that he bent to the fox's will. What was there to say? The best she could do was arc her eyebrows in an understanding gesture. Minutes passed and she felt a sudden jolt of chakra run through her system. Surprised by the unexpected jumpstart, she bolted upright and immediately regretted it- every cracked bone in her body creaked and her burnt flesh inflamed her senses. She opened her pale eyes and beheld the blonde- his burns were much worse than hers, as they covered his entire body. He twitched violently to keep steady and not black out from the agony. Hinata glanced down on her stomach and found a seal she hadn't seen in a long time- the chakra transfer mark. The only other time she had seen this was when Naruto reinforced her coils during their fight with Takaimi of the Sound.

"Alright," the blonde heaved as he crashed to the ground, "Do your thing." With that, he closed his brilliant eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

The Hyuuga regarded him with sad eyes. Here she was, once again by his side, and she felt nothing but regret over her actions that drove him to this. Shaking her head to clear her mind and focus on the task at hand, she popped a few of her specialized pills meant to promote cell growth and chakra production. She then placed her gentle hands on his chest and began redirecting the crystal's bottomless energy across his seared skin; it was handy now that they were in such sore conditions. She winced at every one of her cracked ribs and patches of burned flesh, but she knew from experience that the Uzumaki's contribution would be just enough to compensate.

Hinata sat there for at least an hour healing both their wounds before the blonde regained consciousness. When he did, he was uncoordinated and lethargic, so he simply lay on the ground as his body pulled itself together. He eyed the blue-haired prodigy, wondering why she was there. For that matter, why was he there? "_Oh right… the ROOT…_" he recalled his hazy thoughts that preceded the fox wresting control. His body felt stretched and numb; that was the longest time he had ever spent under the monster's influence.

"Are you okay?" the Hyuuga asked softly as she removed segments of her melted armor and winced at the burns underneath. "Do you feel okay?"

The blonde glanced at her and found concerned eyes staring back. "Why are you here?"

"I… there's… something I need to say…" Butterflies flittered in her stomach; she had never been so apprehensive. "_Was this how Naruto felt when he told me about the fox?_"

He blinked lazily. "What?"

She swallowed; it was time to admit fault, something she'd never imagined she would ever do in life. "It's… it's… uh…"

"About the fox," he ended her statement without emotion. "What else could it be?"

She hung her head. "No… it's not about the fox. It's… about us…"

If the blonde genius was surprised or taken aback, he didn't show it; his face remained stone cold. "Us," he repeated, "There isn't an 'us'. You made that pretty clear the first time..." He stopped when the Hyuuga suddenly went to her knees and gently put her arms around him. His eyebrows rose at the gesture. "What are you…?"

"P-please forgive me!" she yelped, her voice choking with moisture.

Naruto frowned at this. "Hinata," he kept his calm, "This isn't something you just ask forgiveness for…"

"I know," she trembled as she spoke and tears seeped from her eyes, "I know it's not…"

"Then why…?"

"B-because," she raised her head to reveal her pale eyes wet with salty fluid, "Because I'm sorry…"

His frown died and he opened his mouth to speak. "Hinata…"

"I-I was foolish," she planted her head against his shoulder to conceal her tears. It was hard enough to fathom the blonde considering having nothing to do with her, much less looking him in the eye as he said so. "I… I was scared, and I took it out on you. It was wrong- _I_ was wrong."

"Hinata," he found the strength to sit up, "What you said hurt. It hurt a lot."

She sat back on her legs while avoiding eye contact. "I know."

He regarded her with serious eyes that glistened at the painful memory inflicted by the girl. "Do you really know how much it hurt?" His voice was sullen and humble. "It took a lot for me to tell you that, and it broke my heart to hear you say what you did…"

The Hyuuga couldn't bear the thought of being rejected herself and broke down. "N-Naruto," she glanced at him through watery eyes, "I-I know I hurt you, a-and I'm sorry! It's the worst choice I've e-ever made and I-I regret it! It w-was the worst thing I could have e-ever done to you, and I w-wish I could take it back!"

He looked at her with sadness; wasn't this what he went through? He had been ejected from her life and was miserable because of it. "_Is it possible she felt the same way?_" he wondered, leaning forward to speak. "Hinata," his voice became heavy, "What do you want from me?"

She gazed at him and held her tears long enough to reply. "I want a second chance. I want… to be by your side…"

Naruto frowned ever so slightly. "Then… why did you reject me in the first place?"

"I don't know!" she wailed, her tears beginning anew, "I was scared!"

"And what's changed since then? You saw the fox…"

She shook her head. "I saw you! I always saw you…" She met his brilliant eyes and scooted closer to him. "I don't care about the fox, I… care about you…"

The blonde sighed and shut his tired eyes. "And why should I forgive you? Why should I forget what you did to me?"

Tears streamed down her face when she heard those words. "Because… I love you. I… can't stop thinking about you… and… and I just want to be by your side…"

This struck the male prodigy and a part of his mind was grateful that his eyes were closed. He remembered the promise he made to himself the night he discovered Hinata's true self, and he recalled how his hopes had been dashed she told him she was too afraid of the fox behind his soul to stay with him. "_Is this how she really feels?_" He cracked his eyelids open and gazed at the girl on her knees. A voice inside his head clearly remembered the pain her words had caused him- the torture that she unknowingly inflicted upon him. It called for her to have a taste of her own medicine. It was furious that she admitted fault and now begged for forgiveness.

Minutes passed, the silence broken intermittently by the Hyuuga's hushed sniffles and sobs as the Uzumaki wondered what to do. That small voice of his own personality told him to dismiss her the way she had him; to make her experience firsthand how it felt to have the most important person in her life say 'no' to her. His vengeful side wanted her to feel his emotional pain so that she may also know a vacuum in her heart. "_I can't forget the pain,_" he genteelly rubbed his face with a palm, "_But… do I really want her to suffer the same? To feel alone and empty?_" He looked at her one last time and weighed his choices; revenge or forgiveness.

The pale-eyed girl cried softly as the boy deliberated. "I know it's a lot to ask for," she pleaded quietly; "I know I hurt you and you have every right to hate me. But… I want to make things right. I want to stay with you…"

"Hinata," Naruto began, breaking the weeping girl from her thoughts, "What you said hurt me more than anything could have."

She felt the tears beginning anew. "_He doesn't want me anymore…_"

"You're the most important person to me, and to hear you say you were afraid of me hurt more than anything. It was one of the most painful experiences I've ever felt. I want you to know that…"

Her head touched the floor and she struggled to keep her cries from escaping her throat.

"But... I can't put you through that."

Her heart skipped a beat and she wondered if she was hallucinating.

"I know how much it hurts, and… I don't want you to go through the same pain." He lowered his hands and lifted the Hyuuga's face from the floor. An inkling of a humble smile etched into his lips and he said, "Hinata, I forgive you."

Seconds that felt like hours ticked by. The female genius didn't know what to feel. Reflection? Elation? "Y-you forgive me…?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah," his voice was soft, "I do." The torment was still fresh in his mind, but a large portion of him wanted nothing more than to become part of Hinata's life again. To be sure, he wouldn't forget those tumultuous days anytime soon, but his heart's desire was to move on rather than dwell on it. He pulled her in close and embraced her, taking care not to put stress on her injuries.

Silence buried her face into Naruto's chest and wept tears of happiness into his ripped clothing. Nothing could compare to the joy of his forgiveness, and she swore to herself that she would never leave him again. "Thank you, Naruto," she gasped for air, "Thank you so much…"

They rocked back and forth for a while, the Uzumaki rubbing the Hyuuga's back. A content smile found its way on the male prodigy's lips, and silently thanked the heavens for their graciousness. "C'mon," he whispered in her ear, "I'll walk you home."

--

A pile of rocks and dirt stirred and a clawed hand burst from it. The armored limb pulled the rest of its owner from the rubble and Shia shook herself off and checked for wounds. "_Nothing serious._" No sooner had the disturbed girl confirmed her state that she continued on her swift trek. Silence had left in such a hurry and was so fast that she was just now catching up, and the fact that she was almost crushed twice in the collapsing tunnels hadn't helped. "_I just hope I'm in time. Curse, please be safe._"

She stepped up to a ridge and found the vertical chamber in shambles. Glancing down, she found another hole leading deeper into the earth and cautiously made her way to it. Slowing her descent as she neared, she crept to the edge, peered in, and froze at the sight.

Before her lied an incredible scene of destruction, and in the middle of it all was Silence on her knees before a prone Curse. "_What's going on?_" She couldn't hear their voices, but before she could move to scramble down to them, something happened that changed everything for her.

Curse pulled Silence into an embrace- _her_ Curse. She watched as the blonde caressed her former teacher and as Silence returned the affection. To anyone else, this scene would have been one of innocent passion. But to her, it was the boy she loved choosing the girl who had hurt him over her.

It felt like a detached vision. She fell to her knees and her eyes watered without her even realizing it. "_Curse… he chose Silence… and not me. I've… lost Curse…_" Her chest heaved as her breath quickened in preparation to cry, but the seal on her back warmed and her body stiffened as her second personality took the reigns.

Aiya observed the prodigies through borrowed eyes and a sullen expression. She could feel the dominant mindset's agony; it was strong, even rivaling her own. A tear rolled down her cheek and she forced her legs to stand. Knowing that she had little time left before she joined Shia in sorrow, she carried herself as quickly as possible back to her home- the home once shared with the teen she admired.

--

The two prodigies strolled through the night with no sense of hurry, and both stayed silent for much of the journey. There was little to say now that they had come together again. Naruto glanced at Hinata's pale eyes and stared a second too long, attracting her attention. She gazed back and he felt something on his fingers. He looked down and found her hand gracing his in invitation, so he grasped it softly and continued walking alongside the Hyuuga.

Said girl didn't want to spoil the mood with words. She had already said everything she needed to back the battlefield and the blonde had been gracious enough to hear her out. He had even gone so far as to forgive her for her foolishness, but she knew that her actions still weighed heavily on his mind. "_He'll get over it with time. Until then, I'll stay by his side…_" She walked closer to him until her arm touched his and she leaned her head against shoulder as they walked hand in hand. She was glad things had gone back to normal; now all that was left was to see where they would go from here.

The streets they took were as eerily silent as a ghost town, leaving the two alone to contemplate their thoughts. After a numbing silence had passed, the Uzumaki was the first to say something. "Hey, Hinata," his voice was no higher than a whisper in her ear, "Do you want to keep playing dumb?"

She glanced at him and produced a humble smile. She could see the seriousness in his eyes and was happy that he was willing to move on as well. "Yeah. A little while longer." She returned her head to his shoulder, hooked her arm around his, and wove her fingers with his. "I think… we should stay like this until everything's been settled."

He let that turn over for a moment. "Until what's been settled?"

"You know… everything in the tunnels."

Once again, a pause. "And why do you want to wait?" His voice was calm and undemanding; he seemed more curious than perturbed. "It would be easier with others helping us."

"I know. But if the whole village starts working with us, there won't be as much time for us to be alone like this." She knew it was a selfish reason, but a small part of her told her that Naruto desired much the same.

And he did. He smiled lightly and nodded. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

They continued on to the Hyuuga complex in silence. Both knew that the other was glad to put their problems behind them, and while it would take time to mend their wounds, they were grateful that at least they had each other to get through it. The blonde genius's lips cracked into a tired smile whenever it returned to the fresh memory of Hinata's heartfelt words, and the Hyuuga felt her burden lift ever time she recalled Naruto's forgiveness. They reveled in these musings until they reached a familiar pair of crisp ivory gates.

"Well," the Uzumaki began quietly, "Looks like this is where we part."

She squeezed his hand then released it, but she didn't move away. Instead, she swiveled in place and wrapped her arms around the object of her affections. "Thank you," she spoke into his warm chest, "Thank you…"

"Hey," he returned the intimate gesture and kept his voice low so as to not spoil the mood. He brought his hand around and caressed her forehead, prompting her to look into his face. "I already forgave you, you know? We'll just move on." He smiled at her, although his usual brightness was meek to her trained eyes.

She felt her eyes warm with wetness derived from joy. "I know," she averted her gaze downwards and tightened her grip around him. "Thank you for accepting me…" She smiled in return and felt her tears inch down her cheeks. She was about to return to the heated comfort of his chest when she felt his strong fingers cup her chin.

Naruto leaned in, entranced by the Hyuuga's moonlit eyes. He didn't say anything, knowing his actions would do that for him. His hand angled her face a fraction upwards and he brought his lips to hers. "_They're so soft,_" he thought, not content with breaking the gentle kiss just yet. For the moment, he was able to shove aside his previous frustration and sadness and focus solely on this bliss.

Hinata felt similarly and didn't resist. Instead, she shut her eyes and reveled in the moment. Nothing else mattered in the world at this time; not her experiments, not her secret life, not even the problems she introduced into their relationship. At that moment, everything was perfect despite its preceding turmoil. She kept her lips pressed against his until she felt him back away. When their soft flesh parted, her eyes opened and she gazed at him.

After an eternity of minutes, they finally released each other. No words needed uttering; they could read each other's minds through their eyes. They held a mutual understanding on their true feelings, and it was nothing that mere words could dictate.

"Will I… see you tomorrow?" the Hyuuga whispered hopefully.

He regarded her with a simple smile and a nod. "Yeah."

Her lips parted in a wide content smile. "Then goodnight…"

The blonde returned the gesture. "Goodnight." He watched Hinata hesitantly turn and enter the gates and knew she had to enter her home alone- bad things would happen if he was caught here. But his feet didn't want to leave yet. He stood there for several minutes longer, watching after her until she disappeared from view. When she did, he turned on his heel and started for home. "_I'll get over all the bad stuff,_" he knew, "_But at least I know how she really feels now…_"

--

Tsunade stood before the wreckage that once was a comfortable room. The Hokage tower still stood, but not for a lack of trying. Homura and Koharu had pushed her to her wits end, and the only way she could stop them was to obliterate their bodies. "What the hell happened to you two?" she muttered under taxed breath, eyeing the remains of the advisors.

Ever since the beginning of the indoor battle, the aged ninjas exhibited signs of hypnotism or something of the like. They were also armed in ways she hadn't seen- mainly, weapons that had been surgically implanted. "_Reminds me of puppets,_" she mused, comparing the deceased duo to the specialized art. Kicking Homura's torso over, she grimaced at the steel barbs that had replaced his ribcage. "_This is advanced stuff, but I can tell by the cuts that it was done by an amateur…_"

"Tsunade!" a voice echoed from the other end of the cracked hallway. "Get out here!"

She recognized the booming voice of Jiraiya and obeyed without a word. Charging into the corridor, she instantly found her old squad mate stumbling around with Shizune draped over his shoulder. "What the hell did you do?!" she shrieked, reeling a fist back to pound him in the face. "Why is she naked?!"

"Whoa, hold on! We got attacked!" This managed to save him by four inches.

"Attacked?" she blinked, "By who?"

"A poison user…"

Things clicked in her head and she realized why her older assistant was out of commission. "Shit! Hurry, lay her down! She inhaled poison, right?!" He nodded wearily, set the woman on an undamaged section of the cold floor, and Tsunade began to perform emergency extractions.

Shizune seemed frightfully unaware of her surroundings. Her eyes stared ahead blankly and she couldn't stop giggling as she chanted, "Danzo's men, Danzo's men…"

"_She's so far gone,_" Tsunade realized. "How long has it been?!"

He glanced at the destruction around him with twitchy eyes. "Don't know… you get attacked, too?"

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"Alright," he knew the assaults were connected, "About the same time you were."

She glared at him in shock. "That long?!"

"Yep." He immediately keeled over, succumbing to the chemicals running through his veins.

"Jiraiya!"

"Saw… Kakashi up on the roof," he wheezed, "He's conscious but… he's bleedin' pretty bad. Yamato's tending to him…" With that, he shut his eyes and drifted off to fidgety slumber.

"Jiraiya! Wake up! Get up, damn it!" She kicked him once and he didn't respond. "Shit!" For once, she didn't know what to do. "_Both of them are poisoned, but I can only tend to them one at a time. Damn it! Sakura, where are you when I need you?!_"

"Lady Tsunade!" a female voice rang out. Anko slammed into the doorway with a bleeding arm but no other apparent injuries. The moment she laid eyes on the interiour her tone quieted. "Here too?"

"Anko! Go get Sakura!"

"Ma'am?"

"Get her in here _now_!"

The Mitarashi jumped at the yell. "Yes ma'am!" She darted off, leaving Temari behind.

Said blonde teen approached the female Hokage and leaned over the toad Sannin, wondering with wide eyes who could've been strong enough to compete with one of the legendary ninjas.

"What did she mean, 'here too'?" Tsunade calmed herself and questioned the sand shinobi while she worked.

"We got attacked by a… Yamanaka… I think," she responded airily. The wind had been knocked out of her way too many times in the fight with the mind-jumping freak.

"A Yamanaka?"

She nodded. "Can… I explain later? I'm… really tired now."

The blonde medic glanced at the girl and quickly noticed extreme signs of fatigue. "Yeah. Go hail a medic squad."

"Yes, lady Hokage…"

--

As Naruto made his way home, he didn't know whether to smile or cry. Hinata was back in his life, and this time she wouldn't be taken away by the accursed fox. "_Not this time,_" he swore to himself, "_Not this one, you damn fox._"

He reached the door to his modest apartment and entered, feeling as if he walked on air. "_What'll things be like from now on?_" he wondered wistfully. Thoughts of him and the Hyuuga becoming more than comrades- more than friends- flooded his mind. It was almost enough to completely strike away his previous sadness regarding the opposing prodigy, and he couldn't help but smile to no one as a tear of joy escaped his eye. "_Heh, guess those couldn't make up their minds either!_"

But he noticed that something was off; his abode was empty. He descended the trap-laden ladder into his private chamber and his sharp ears overheard something emanating from the former prison adjacent to the hidden room. He popped his head in and frowned upon finding Shia huddled in the center of the cluttered mess with her back to the door. "_This… isn't like her._" He was already worried about this turn of events. "Shia," he started, "What's wrong?"

Instead of an answer, the preteen replied with a choke. She was crying, and her arms cradled her small frame in a desperate attempt for self-comfort.

Naruto instantly forgot his joyousness and rushed over to her, kneeling before her face when he got close enough. "Shia, what's wrong? What happened?" He hadn't seen this side of her in years, and it bothered him to see her like this.

She glanced at him with tearing eyes and scooted in another direction, her suppressed voice sounding out a few syllables and gurgles. She buried her head between her knees to hide from the blonde, but even in her misery she knew it wouldn't work.

"Shia…" he repeated once again. This time however, he placed a hand on her shoulder in the beginnings of an embrace. Imagine his surprise when the girl shook it off with a sudden wave of the arm.

"G-g-g-go a-a-aw-away," her stutter returned. Nothing more needed to be said about her mental state if that old habit had resurfaced. "L-l-lea-leave m-m-me a-alone…"

"What's wrong?" He persisted in the embrace, and was continuously startled by how she resisted; she had never refused such a gesture before. "What happened?"

"Y-y-you k-k-k-know w-what h-h-happened!" she spat with tears streaming from her eyes. Her gaze locked with the genius, and her dull eyes revealed a mixture of lament and frustration. "Y-you a-a-and S-S-Silence…!" She left that statement hanging, but the blonde understood its meaning.

"What about me and Hinata?" he murmured, keeping his voice low so as not to provoke her further.

"S-s-she t-took y-y-you aw-away f-from me." She cried so hard that she had to come up for air.

"_So that's it,_" he figured it out, "_That's what's bothering her._" His eyes sketched the air to the floor as a sinking feeling rose in his chest; he knew what Shia was trying to say, and he knew that it was ultimately his fault. He gently overpowered the struggling girl, enveloped her in an embrace, and held her close.

"S-s-stop i-it!" she shouted in anger but her eyes and voice conveyed sadness above ire. "L-let g-g-g-go of m-m-me!" Her arms wormed their way free from between their bodies and began pounding against the blonde genius in an attempt to force him to release her.

But the Uzumaki did not yield. Instead, he merely stared into the abyss as Shia's small hands weakened against him. His brilliant eyes didn't sparkle now; the auburn-haired girl didn't deserve this. "_I led her on when Hinata rejected me,_" he knew, "_I knew how she felt, and I never gave her a reason to think otherwise. This… is my fault. I'm the reason she's so sad._" He felt Shia give up and soak his jacket in tears as her arms found their way to his back in a hug of her own. Glancing down at her buried face, he felt a few tears of his own gather in his eye; he might not have felt the same towards her as he did Hinata, but that didn't mean he felt nothing at all. In fact, he knew that despite the disturbed girl's current anguish, he felt a special connection with her that he didn't yet have with the Hyuuga. He allowed Shia to empty her tear ducts into his clothes as he softly rubbed her back to comfort her, and soon enough she couldn't force any more of the salty liquid. "Shia," he lowered his face and almost placed a chin on top of her head, "I'm sorry."

She choked a few times then slowly raised her moist eyes to his. Her pain was no longer so strong, but it was still obviously prevalent on her features. "C-Curse," she stammered, "A-a-after e-ev-everything she d-did t-t-to y-you… I w-w-was th-there…"

"I know." He still held her close, although neither side exhibited signs of releasing the other anytime soon. "I know."

"A-and a-a-after a-all th-that… s-s-she j-just c-comes b-b-back and t-t-t-takes y-you from m-me…"

"It's not like that." He almost winced; that was pathetic, even by his standards.

"I-I k-k-know y-you l-l-l-lo-love her," her stutter grew for a moment before she finally found her voice again, "B-but I l-l-love you t-too!" Her arms tightened around him, if such a thing were possible. "I-I l-love y-you so m-m-much! A-and a-after s-s-seeing…" Her throat cracked and the waterworks found new ground as she retreated back into his soaked chest.

Naruto continued to hold onto her as she deposited the newfound tears on him. He knew that he had been avoiding this every bit as much as he did in telling Hinata about the fox, and once again it had cost others dearly. But this time he knew what to do; the path was finally clear to him. He was Shia's emotional support- had been for years- and it was time for him to shoulder the responsibilities that came with it. When he felt her second watery assault subside, he began again. "Shia, I know."

She gazed at him. "A-all th-th-this t-time?"

He held back a wince; he could easily hear the hurt in her voice. "Yeah. I was wrong to lead you on, and I'm sorry." His mind knew that a simple apology wouldn't be enough, and the girl's downcast eyes confirmed that belief. "I was in a lot of pain at the time, and I just needed someone to be there. And that was you."

She didn't appear any more distraught but she didn't seem to be alleviated either. Her eyes glazed over as she took everything in and mulled it over in her tormented mind.

"And it's true that I love Hinata," he admitted with a humble smile. He noticed that Shia's stare fell at these words, but he continued nonetheless. "She's very special to me. But you know what? You're something that she's not."

This seemed to grasp her subsiding attention, if only by a hair. Curiosity overtook her misery for a fraction of a second and she peered up with her tear-stained cheeks.

The Uzumaki smiled at her. "You're family."

For a moment the disturbed girl forgot her qualms. "I-I'm w-what?"

His smile widened. It had taken him a while to admit this to himself, and it was comforting to him to finally know where his feelings stood for her. "You're family to me. You were always there for me no matter what happened," he stroked her cheek with a finger to mop up the drying tears, "And I can't thank you enough for that." Shia stared at him for a few seconds and he thought that the weeping would begin anew. "And I want you to know that no matter what happens, you'll always be my family," he reassured her, "And I'll always love you."

Shia's mind went blank for an indeterminate amount of time. One part of her fractured mindset was still focused on the fact that Curse would never look at her as he did Silence- she would never be someone he wanted to spend his life with in that special way. But another side argued that she had taken root in his life in a way Silence never could- as a surrogate sibling. "_I'll never be a… a lover… but I'll always be family. I'll never be… with him, but he'll always be there for me. Isn't… isn't that good enough? Isn't that what I've always wanted?_"

Aiya stirred within the mental confines. "_Don't kid yourself. That's not what you really want._" She sounded unusually sullen.

"_I… I just want him to be happy…_"

"_But you wanna be happy too._"

The primary personality considered this with moroseness. "_I… I do._"

"_Then what's more important to you?_" Aiya was being uncharacteristically considerate of her better half. "_Your happiness or his?_"

This question forced Shia to delve into the depths of her soul. She firmly believed that everyone deserved a little happiness in life, no matter the situation. Her personal joy was something that had been trampled on for the better part of her life, and she was long overdue for feelings that had been denied her. But then again, Curse was the person who gave her felicity and provided meaning in her life. She owed him a great deal for everything he had done for her. The selfishness in her character wept for its due, and she made up her mind.

"_My happiness… would rob Curse of his. And I can't do that to him. Curse has been through more than me, and yet he's still so kind. I… I want him to be happy… no matter what._"

Aiya sat behind the imagined barrier as she listened to Shia, and if she had lips, they'd be parsed in a grin. "_Then do it._" With that, she receded into the darkness of the girl's mind with an echo of a projected smile.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she brought her hands back to her face and rubbed her eyes. Naruto loosened the embrace so she could do so comfortably, but she pulled him back in with small hands grasping his jacket.

"You okay, Shia?" the blonde whispered.

She sniffled away the physical remnants of her anguish and nodded with her head against his chest. "Yeah," her voice answered softly, "I-I'll be fine…"

And so the two sat there for what felt like hours before the younger one dozed off in the warmth. The blonde prodigy couldn't help but feel some sense of closure, and he was glad that he could finally define the girl as the only family he ever had. He smiled and brushed his lips against her forehead before gently laying her down and covering her with a sheet that could pass as a cot. He sat down next to her with the barest of smiles plastered on his face. For once in his life, everything felt all right. "_I've got Hinata and I've got Shia. I have someone I love and a family…_"

He felt his eyes droop and he resolved to stay with his surrogate sibling for the night, but before he could do anything he was interrupted by said preteen rising from her prone position. "Shia…?" She glanced at him, but it wasn't the insecure girl he knew so well. "Aiya?"

She nodded, but for some reason her eyes weren't so distinct anymore. Their usual sharpness was dulled and she appeared somber. "Hey, Curse," she greeted with no aggressiveness, "I want to ask something."

"Yeah," he nodded. It was rare to see Aiya like this, so he knew something was up. "What is it?"

"I remember what you said… you know, to live for myself…" Her mannerisms were subdued and she was beating around the bush. "And… I was wondering…" she trailed off.

"Wondering what?" he prompted.

Her eyes stopped wandering and met his, familiar determination returning to the forefront. They appeared overflowing with emotions that Aiya normally suppressed until she could deal with them in private. "If… if things with Silence hadn't turned out… you know…" she glanced down at the insinuation before returning her gaze to his eyes, "If things had gone differently, could there… could there have been an 'us'?"

Naruto blinked at her question; she was serious about it. "I…" he scratched his head, "I… I really… don't know…" He honestly couldn't answer the secondary self, not now. Not with things as they were. Maybe if Hinata had permanently abandoned him, but that wasn't reality anymore. "I… can't say… sorry."

Aiya took that answer with a straight face, which spoke volumes of her mood. Calm to her was like grief or sorrow to others, at least as far as the blonde figured. She was still such a mystery to him that he couldn't even begin to judge her based on expression alone. Her lips turned upwards by a millimeter. "Thank you, Curse."

She then leaned forward, causing the Uzumaki to unconsciously back up. Her arms gently wrapped around him and her chin rested on his shoulder. The blonde hesitated then returned the gesture, ignoring the occasional tear that soaked all the way through his clothes. He knew that Aiya must have come to a decision herself, and for her to act so emotionally must have taken a toll on her.

"Curse," she spoke into his ear without choking- her tears weren't quite so harsh, "Please take care of us."

He rubbed her back. "I will. Promise."

Aiya's face broke into a sad smile; the genius couldn't see it, so she was fine. "Let me stay like this for a while. It'll be over soon enough."

Naruto silently agreed and let her do as she wished. A handful of eternal minutes passed and both unofficial siblings finally succumbed to the embrace of unbiased slumber.

--

A certain dim leaky prison lied silent in the night, its massive demonic entity locked away behind an enormous cage. "**So, you've solved one of your problems,**" the fox muttered to itself. It was a persistent habit that it cursed merely because there was no one else to hear him. "**You've robbed me of some of the best entertainment I have seen in a long time.**" It grinned to no one. "**But rest assured, boy; your troubles are far from over. In fact,**" the monster recalled the masked man it had abolished mere hours ago, "**Your troubles have only just begun. You will face much more, and I cannot wait to see how you fare against this eternal struggle.**" The fox mentally berated itself for this demeaning tendency to talk to oneself, but its cage rattled with laughter nonetheless.

* * *

Speculation, anyone?

Well, as you can see, this is a pretty big wrap-up (not of the permanent kind, though). I wonder what's gonna happen next...?

Obviously, reviews containing constructive criticism are **highly** encouraged, especially now. I already know one or two of you will do this, so I'm asking the rest of you to do the same. Please.

Pretty please? Ahahah!

Catch you guys later!


	36. End of an Era! Cannon Wielding gone Bad

Alright, not -quite- as long as the chapters before it, but this pretty much sets the stage!

So sit back, grab the popcorn (but don't touch your keyboard... or mouse... on second thought, scratch the popcorn), and enjoy!

* * *

It had been a rough night for Tsunade. Not only did she have to fend off the crazed council members and their newfound strengths, but she also had to deal with the grave injuries of several key Konoha ninjas. Normally this wouldn't have been an ordeal with her apprentices by her side, but Shizune was not in any condition to assist. In fact, the younger medic was one of the patients.

The blonde Hokage stepped out of said woman's hospital room and found Jiraiya and Sakura awaiting her. Her old teammate had held up to his injuries the best out of everyone, so he took less time to recover. Of course, she believed there was more to the story than what she heard in the little time she could spare the previous evening. On the other hand, the Haruno had no idea what transpired. Perhaps it was time she be brought into the loop…?

The pink-haired medic gazed at her superior with concern while the toad sage merely listened sullenly. "How is she?"

Tsunade rubbed her face and sighed hard. "She'll make it," she began morosely, "But…"

Sakura froze and Jiraiya grimaced ever so slightly. "But what? Is she going to be alright?"

The blonde ninja heaved another sigh; it was difficult facing news like this. "I managed to pump the hallucinogen from her system, but the damage is done."

The young chunin paled. "Is… done? What do you mean…?" She couldn't believe her what she was hearing.

"It's permanent." Tsunade kept her face stone cold. "She can't continue being a medical ninja."

Sakura's eyes went wide and she became speechless. Jiraiya chose to fill the verbal gap for her. "If I had gotten her here earlier…?"

She shook her head. "Whatever she inhaled decreased exponentially; I'm certain that the moment she breathed it in it was already over."

"Can she continue being a shinobi?"

She bit her thumb; not even she was sure. "I… don't really- Shizune!" the medic in question appeared from her room and interrupted the impromptu meeting, "What are you doing up?! You need rest…!"

Shizune regarded her superior with a shit-eating grin and lazy eyes. "Nah, I feel… fine…"

Sakura's eyes welled up; she could see the obvious changes in her fellow medic's face. "Shizune… I'm so sorry…"

Her head swiveled in place and brought that smirk with it. "Sorry for what?" She didn't seem all there despite the unnatural smile. "I feel great!"

"Shizune…" Tsunade placed a sympathetic hand on her subordinate's shoulder.

Said underling instantly scooted away, her fanatical grin withstanding. "Nah, nah, nah, no touching…" She waved her hands, glanced at her palms as if they were noteworthy, and promptly placed them back at her sides like they were supposed to be there. "I'm totally fine, absolutely… positively…" Her gaze shifted to a nearby window and she trailed off. An awkward second went by before she whipped her head back into place and completed the thought. "Fine."

"Shizune," the blonde Hokage tried to convince the ailing woman to rest, "Go back to bed and rest. You're body's very tired right now."

She considered this proposition for a moment and shrugged. "Yeah…" she yawned, "I'm kinda tired." Waltzing back through the doorway, she eased the door shut behind her while glancing back with her disturbing grin. "G'night…"

"Oh my God…" Sakura gasped in horror, "She's insane."

Tsunade sighed for the millionth time. "To a degree; her brain chemistry's been altered to the point where her perceived reality is different from ours."

Jiraiya summed it up with his own observations. "So she's schizophrenic."

"Yeah…" She felt like pounding the wall to dust. "_How could I let her end up like this?! Why can't I help her more?!_" Taking a few breaths to calm her nerves, she reminded herself that there was nothing she could do; the poison in her assistance's veins was horrifically potent. "_Whoever mixed it is a master. Probably even more so than Sasori of the red sand…_" Grimacing, she attempted to change the topic. "Is Kakashi awake?"

The toad Sannin nodded. "Just came from his room. Everyone's gathered there and is trying to figure out where to go from here."

She nodded. "Alright, let's see what he knows. Sakura," she addressed her younger apprentice, "Head on home. I'm sure you're tired after working all night."

"But…" the Haruno argued.

"No buts." She glared at the girl with cold eyes that portrayed an unyielding attitude.

The young teen hung her head. "Yes, ma'am…"

As the girl parted from the legendary ninjas and the aged duo made their way to Kakashi's room, Jiraiya spoke up. "You sure that's such a good idea? She could be in danger."

Tsunade sighed hard and shook her head. "And who was targeted last night?"

He paused. "People who know what's going on."

"Exactly. I can't risk getting her involved, too."

"What about Shizune? She didn't know anything and still got attacked."

She sucked in a deep breath. "As much as I hate to think about it, she's collateral. She wasn't targeted; you were. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He grimaced inwardly- she had a point. "Be careful," he warned her, "If thing's get out of hand any more than they already have, there'll be hell to pay when everyone starts wondering why you buried this. You'll lose a lot of credibility."

"I know…" her eyes stared into the abyss, "But it's a chance I have to take…"

--

Shizune was fascinated by her reflection in the mirror. She stood before it for what seemed like hours, swaying side to side as she followed her movements with a bright manic smile. "Damn, I look so old… damn smile lines…"

Suddenly, it seemed that there was work to be done- dangerous work. "_Didn't I hear Danzo's name last night? I'll bet he's a pain to Lady Tsunade…_" She pulled the mirror from its stand, tossed it face down on her bed, and crushed it with an elbow. Extracting the longest of the razor sharp shards, she pulled several bandages from a nearby counter and wrapped handles onto the impromptu blades. Nodding and smiling in satisfaction, she placed the dozen glassy shivs into her sash and wound her sheets into a makeshift rope. After that, she kicked the window out rather than sliding it open, tied the sheets to her bed stand, and then descended from the third story window of the hospital.

Once her feet touched bottom, she turned and casually made her way from the grounds. It eventually dawned on her that she was still in hospital attire. "Huh… I need clothes," she mused outwardly, "I look like a mental patient…" Something about that amused her, and her lungs complied by releasing shrill laughter into the daylight hours. "Ah, me insane…" her mad giggling died gradually, "That's hilarious!"

--

The crisp hospital room was silent for the time being despite the number of occupants. Kakashi lied in the sole bed in too much pain to sit up while Yamato, Kurenai, Anko, and Temari lined the walls in introspective reverence. No one said a thing, but they all thought along the lines of 'what the hell happened?'

Tsunade entered the chamber and Jiraiya followed closely behind. She shut the airtight door and eyed everyone cautiously; after Homura and Koharu assaulted her, she wondered if any one of these individuals were potential hostiles. "_I just have to go out on a limb…_"

"Lady Tsunade," the Yuhi began, "What exactly happened last night? Anko told me some of the news, but I'm still confused."

"What did you hear?"

"That everyone here was attacked by unknown assailants…"

"Then you know just as much as we do."

This concerned the illusion user further. She frowned and sputtered, "B-but what does that mean…?"

"Hang on," she held up a palm, "One thing at a time. First thing's first- Jiraiya, what do you have for us?"

He cleared his throat and spoke stoically. "I was attacked by a poison user who refused to tell me his name. He also attacked Shizune, but she was collateral; he was after me. He claimed that one of his bosses 'jumped the gun' and that he was there to keep me busy."

A moment of silence passed and was broken by the Mitarashi. "Jumped the what? What's a… gun?" Leave it to her to pick up the small, inconsequential things.

He shrugged. "Dunno, but that's not important. The fact that he singled me out means that whoever he works for knows my strengths and acted to put me up against my greatest weakness."

Anko scoffed and muttered to the side, "Then why didn't they send a woman?"

"Anyway," Tsunade brought her subordinate back into the conversation, "I think we can assume that these people are organized to a degree, although we don't know how much. Temari, how about you? You said something about a Yamanaka…?"

The foreign shinobi shrugged. "I don't know; that's what Anko said."

Said ninja clarified. "We didn't actually fight one enemy. Whoever it was managed to manipulate everyone around us to attack one at a time. It was a real pain in the ass…"

"Then how do you figure it's a Yamanaka?" Tsunade questioned, visions of Homura and Koharu's trancelike state flashing in her mind.

"He… she, whatever, spoke to us," Temari answered, "He talked to us while in one of the bodies."

The aged Hokage frowned. "Then how did you defeat him?"

"We didn't," the snake mistress looked away in mild embarrassment. "We just outlasted him. He suddenly disappeared after a while…"

The blonde Sannin rubbed her temple in thought before turning towards the prone man on the mattress. "Kakashi, how about you?"

He grunted and sat up against the many painful puncture wounds. "She was on top of the Hokage tower and used some kind of weapon to keep Yamato and me at bay."

"Did you see her face?"

"Just her eyes; she had some kind of tattoos around them." He glanced at Jiraiya and noticed the barest of scowls cross the man's features. "It took me a long time before I could get close enough to attack her."

"We didn't find a body there, either. What happened?"

He stared into the abyss. "That's just the thing… I'm not sure."

Her eyes furrowed. "What do you mean?"

The Sharingan user stared straight at his superior's face. "I distracted her with a shadow clone and hit her with a Lightning Blade." He let that hang for a moment.

"… And…?"

"It didn't do anything."

Everyone's eyes went wide. "What?!"

"It jolted her for a second but then she turned her weapon on me faster than I could react and put me out of commission."

"How is that possible?" Yamato whispered to no one, "Hit with the Lightning Edge and walking away?"

"I don't know," he heard the cloned ninja and produced a sheet of paper. "However, it did destroy a piece of her clothing. I caught a glimpse of it with my Sharingan and memorized it before I passed out."

Jiraiya took the slip and analyzed it. It was a monstrously incomplete seal and turned the wrong way, but there was one discernable mark that belonged to only one element. "This is some kind of lightning seal, but it's inverted."

"Inverted?"

The gears turned in the frog master's mind and he nodded in satisfaction. "It's never been done before, but I think the fact that it's tattooed on backwards allowed her to absorb your technique."

The Hatake's lone eye widened. "Is that even possible?"

He shrugged. "Must be. It's the only thing I can think of that matches your story. It might even explain her speed- some kind of electroshock therapy."

Everyone ushered into introverted silence before Tsunade broke them from it with her authoritative voice. "I was attacked by Homura and Koharu, and I'm positive they didn't even know what was going on."

Jiraiya eyed her. "What do you mean?"

"They came stumbling into my office in a lot of pain then suddenly attacked me. I examined the bodies, and I'm reasonably certain that they were operated on by someone with an extreme knowledge of physiology and genetics."

"How can you tell?" the Yuhi asked innocently.

"Much of their skeletal system was replaced by machinery meant to act like weapons in a puppet. Any tendons or muscles that were affected by the transplant were also replaced by some substance I can't identify in order to hold them together. I also took a look at their blood work; I'm positive that the poison user who attacked Jiraiya was involved."

The toad Sannin went out on a limb. "I assume you found matching chemicals?"

"Exactly," she nodded, "Trace amounts of anesthetics and narcotics. There was a real volatile mix of the stuff in their brains- I'm sure that's what was causing the pain."

Anko frowned at all this. "Who _are_ these people? If they could assault Jiraiya and survive, then what are our chances?"

Temari shuddered at the idea that a mere lackey could be strong enough to take on one of the Sannin and live to tell about it. "Could this be a warning? I mean, no one was killed, so maybe this is their way of telling us to back off…"

Tsunade regarded everyone with a grave stare. "Possibly, but judging from what the poison user told Jiraiya, that might not be the case at all. Either way, it's bad news. If we encounter many more of these guys, then we'll have to get the entire village involved…"

Yamato cocked his head. "Lady Tsunade, why not inform the other shinobi of the threat? We could certainly use the help."

She grimaced. "Everyone involved in this investigation was targeted. What would happen if everyone suddenly knew about it? These people don't strike me as the type to be intimidated." She recalled her grandfather's account of how he received the chakra monsters from the shadow organization. "And if they could control all the tailed beasts before the village was founded, then their power…" She trailed off, praying to any deity listening that this group was too vain to go full force on Konoha. "_Because if they do, then I don't know what would happen…_"

--

As Sakura headed home, she couldn't shake the notion that her superior was hiding something from her. "_She really seemed worried about it,_" she knew; she could easily read her master's subtle moods. "_But if she wanted me to drop it, she must think it's out of my league. Damn it, when is she gonna realize I'm ready for the tough stuff?!_" Her eyes wandered the streets alongside her feet until they found a familiar face. She waved at said colleague. "Sai!"

The pale boy turned in place and cracked a forced smile. "Sakura, how are you?"

"_What the…?_" She instantly noted his change in mood from the previous weeks. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes."

"You sure? You were really out of it for a while."

He gazed at her quizzically, although he could have fooled anyone else. "I was?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah… don't you remember? You were really withdrawn… even worse than when you first joined team seven…"

His head leaned to the side. "I don't remember any of that. Are you sure it is me you should be worried about?"

The Haruno resisted the urge to clock him by focusing on the sudden change in attitude. "_He's had another overnight change. Did something happen last night? Could it… could it be related to what lady Tsunade won't tell me?_" She delved into those ideas for a bit and came up empty; she was clueless. Besides, a flash of sunny blonde hair shined a ray of light into her eyes. "Was that Naruto?" she wondered aloud, glancing about to find said teen. Seconds ticked by and her eyes fell to the ground in disappointment. "_I guess not…_"

--

Hinata sat atop the tower in the center of training arena forty-four, commonly known as the Forest of Death. "_Such a retarded name,_" she mused as the wind blew through her hair. She wanted to spend time outside today; her lab could be rather claustrophobic at times. And since she didn't want to hide behind a mask, she sought out a location where she was sure to be alone- the very top of the obelisk in which her first preliminary exam took place.

She leaned her head back against a pole and gazed at the clear sky. The azure depths reminded her of the blonde prodigy's eyes, and the mere thought of him brought a small smile to her lips. She was infinitely grateful that the Uzumaki was giving her a second chance, and every time she recalled the previous evening her skin prickled. "_I'll stay with him from now on. I swear it._"

She didn't budge when she felt a second presence approach her; she knew who it was. Her smile grew wider. "You too, huh?"

Naruto took a seat and stared at the sky alongside her. "It's nice up here," he commented, "You come here often?"

"No," she shook her head, "Just today."

A minute silence ensued. "You come up here to think?"

"Yeah." Nothing more was said for a moment longer before she spoke again. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

She placed a hand over his and curled her fingers inward. "For being so forgiving."

He smiled. "It's no problem." Rotating his palm skyward, he grasped her hand and held on snugly. "Thank you for accepting me."

She gave a humble nod before silence fell over them again. Words had no place between the two; everything they wanted to say was in their intertwined hands.

"Hey, Hinata?"

"Yes?"

"There's some other stuff I need to tell you about."

She cocked an eyebrow at the sky. "There's something other than the fox?"

"It's kinda related; it told me some things."

Hinata finally made eye contact. "It _told_ you? It can talk to you?"

"Yeah," he shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "It told me some interesting things that might help us."

The blue-haired girl returned her gaze to the sky. "Like what?"

"Like the Sharingan's original name; the Shangri-La."

She frowned. "Shangri-La?"

"Yep. And get this," he added with a chuckle, "It even told me the Byakugan's first name."

Her brow rose. He was right- this caught her interest. "Really? What was it?"

"Something called BMC- Blind Man's Compensation."

"Blind…?" How was her bloodline blind? It was the most enhanced vision in existence.

"Well, it made it sound like the Sharingan and Byakugan evolved from those other two. But it did say something that kinda confused me…"

"What was it?"

"It said that blind people with chakra developed BMC."

"Like an extra sense?"

"It made it sound like an infection… called it a 'condition'."

She frowned. "Like a strain?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. It didn't go into any detail."

She considered this information further. "You said… 'people with chakra'. I thought everyone had chakra from the day they were born?"

He eyed her. "They are. I thought it was kind of weird that the fox went out of its way to mention that…"

"Wouldn't that imply that, at some point, people didn't have chakra?"

Once again, he raised his shoulders in a shrug. "I guess- it doesn't like giving me straight answers."

She giggled and rested her head on his shoulder. "That's fine. Between the two of us, we can figure it out."

He smiled at that pleasant thought. "Yeah… you're right." He squeezed her hand and she glanced at him with curious eyes.

"Something the matter?" she wondered innocently.

"Hm? No…" He wondered why she asked that and saw his hand out of the corner of his eye- it now rested on Hinata's knee rather than in her palm. "_When did that happen?_"

She snuggled back up against him and gazed at the brilliant sky again. "So did the fox tell you anything else?"

He nodded. "A few other things. It said that the Shangri-La-"

"The Sharingan, right?" she interrupted.

"Its predecessor, yeah. It said that it was created in order to control stuff meant for something called the 'Omega Project'."

"_Created, eh? So it's unnatural…_" She shook that from her mind- she couldn't know what to make of it so soon. "Did it say what this 'Omega Project' was?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, all it gave me was a name."

"That's too bad. Did it say anything else?"

"Uh…" he rubbed his temple in thought with his free hand, "Oh, it gave me a riddle."

"Really? About what?"

"Some bloodline called the 'Angel Eyes' that's supposed to be stronger than the Sharingan."

"What's the riddle?"

"Hang on." He squinted in concentration, trying to remember the formal speech the demon utilized. "Let those who possess… the eyes of the angels… hold the key to… the gates of paradise. None who possess the key shall enter unto heaven… and… I can't remember the rest. Something about eternal suffering, I think."

The Hyuuga mulled over these small clues for a bit. "Well, if what the fox says is true and all these bloodlines evolved from something else, then we're talking thousands- possibly millions- of years. I think it might just be toying with you with old facts."

He sighed. "I wish I knew," he replied apprehensively, "That's probably true, but I'd still like to know about this 'Omega Project'. It's the only thing we know nothing about."

"But if the Sharingan… Shangri-La… whatever, was created for that, then it would be just as old."

The blonde nodded absentmindedly. "Doesn't mean someone won't try to start it up again, whatever it is."

She planted the side of her head on his shoulder again and heaved a calming breath. "I guess you're right." A thought struck her. "Do you think it has anything to do with those blast doors under the ROOT compound?"

Her gaped at her; he hadn't noticed that enormous barricade due to his possessed state and subsequent weariness. "There are blast doors down there?!"

"Oh, right," she giggled, "You were pretty out of it at that time." Hinata noted his sudden downcast expression and mentally kicked herself for bringing it up. "Did I ever tell you about my last mission in Suna?"

He glanced at her. "No, you didn't."

She smiled at him. "Well, you're in for a treat." A thought struck her. "Oh, before I forget- Jiraiya figured out our secret."

His eyes now resembled dinner plates. "He what?!"

--

Later that night, three shadowy figures sailed through the caverns beneath Konoha towards a certain destination. The dual geniuses decided to pay a visit to the ruins of the ROOT complex, although their company was along for the ride for separate reasons.

Silence leapt next to Curse and whispered, "Why'd Shia come with you? It could be dangerous."

He regarded her with a nervous smile. "She insisted on coming."

"What about all the times before?"

The blonde bit his lip. "It's complicated. I'll tell you later." Truthfully, it had to do with the Hyuuga- ever since Shia resolved to put Naruto's happiness above her own, she had been in the dumps. He knew she would eventually get over it, but for the time being it was best that she be preoccupied so that she couldn't focus on her one-sided affection.

They continued without another word into the obliterated tunnels that once housed Danzo's private army. Hinata kept her Byakugan blazing, but every sense in her body told her that this place was dead. There would be no one to interfere. "_Doesn't hurt to be careful, though…_"

In record time, the masked trio found the outer edges of the collapsed portions of the subterranean compound and descended with care. The Uzumaki trudged through the wreckage in mild awe of his possessed destructive power. Shia took note of his distracted state and voiced her inquiry.

"Curse, what happened here?"

"Hm? Oh, uh…" He wondered how to break this to her. "Do you remember what I said about the nine-tailed fox?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Did it do this?"

"Well, sort of…" His hand scratched the back of his head in nervous anticipation to her reaction. "Last night, I… kinda got possessed by it and did all this…"

She cocked her head, her mismatched mask concealing the worry on her face. "It… possessed you?"

"Yeah. I don't actually remember doing all this…"

The disturbed girl didn't pry further, but the second personality in her mind had things to say. "_It can possess him? That's just wrong…_"

"_I thought Curse said it was sealed in him?_"

"_He did._"

"_So shouldn't that mean he should be able to… I don't know, 'possess' the fox?_"

If Aiya had lips at the moment, they would have split into a mischievous grin. "_I got an idea…_" She began mentally whispering her plan to her other half, knowing that a project of this undertaking would do everyone good. They would have something to distract them from their emotional demotion while ultimately proving useful to Curse.

As the troubled preteen mulled around in her thoughts, Naruto and Hinata peered into the hole at the bottom of the upper chamber. "Whoa…" the blonde proclaimed airily, "Those are some big doors."

"They're just like the ones I saw in Suna," the Hyuuga explained as she scrambled to the first outcropping in the new tunnel, "Except a lot bigger." She cautiously made her way to the bottom, stood atop the massive metal doors, and was quickly joined by the blonde prodigy.

"Geez, this sucker's huge!" His voice echoed in the desolate vertical shaft.

"Hey, check this out," Silence crouched at the base of the vertical tube and aimed a finger at the 'floor'. "These blast doors keep going…"

He whistled as he looked on. "How long are they?"

She gazed at the stone with her Byakugan and hung her head in despair. "I can't see past the rock…"

He raised an eyebrow. "You can't? I thought the Byakugan could see through anything."

"It's supposed to." She tapped a frustrated fist on the wall. "It's like wherever I go these days there's something to counter it. Damn it!"

"So what's the big deal?" he shrugged it off, "We'll just open the doors."

She eyed him warily. "We don't know how big the doors are…"

"So?"

"They might be large enough to act as support for the entire tunnel system. If we just open them up without checking their size first, we might make Konoha collapse."

He grinned and chuckled at the absurdity of that statement, even though he knew it to be perfectly logical. "True, true. Now what?"

"We could try to blow a hole in them…"

"Now hold on," he held up a palm, "You said I hit this thing with a compressed ball of the fox's chakra, right?"

"Yeah."

He remembered hearing about this technique from Yamato. "I've seen what that can do, and if I did all this…" he held his arms out to display the wrecked shaft, "And this survived at point blank range, then we'll sooner undermine Konoha before blowing a hole in this."

She sighed hard. "Well then… what do we do?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Looks like there's nothing we _can_ do right now."

"You saying it's a dead end?"

Naruto took a deep breath; he didn't want to admit this either. "For the moment, I think so. I think we should find another way in to… wherever this goes, or we'll have to wait for someone on the other side to open it."

Hinata shuddered at the thought of being forced to wait for something that could be so important and dangerous. "Well we can't just sit on our hands. We need to investigate this somehow. Maybe there's a paper trail… or something…"

The Uzumaki sat cross-legged on the floor in thought. "_The thing I'm most concerned about is this Omega Project. I'm sure the fox wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't relevant… I think… and I don't see how a set of blast doors that won't open are a danger by themselves._" His brilliant azure eyes remained shut for a while before he opened them to find the Hyuuga sitting across from him. "Sorry, was I out for a while?"

She smiled behind her intimidating steel mask. "Nope," she answered happily. "_Just enjoying the view._"

"Alright," he placed his hands on his knees and rocked forward, "I think I got something."

"What is it?"

"The fox told me that the Sharingan… Shangri-La… was created to handle materials for the Omega Project…"

"So we should look for someone with a Sharingan," she completed his statement.

"Exactly!" He smiled. "Great minds really do think alike…"

--

As the days passed and the sun dipped into the afternoon sky, Jiraiya was busy enjoying his research. Thankfully, Tsunade had managed to extract the poison from his system in time, although much of it acted as anesthetics and would dissolve sooner or later. He felt a little sluggish, but it didn't dull his skills enough to pull off some quality peeping.

The toad Sannin had a good view of one of the many hot springs from a roof several blocks away. His trusty telescope in hand, his lips parted in a drooling grin as he chuckled like a kid in a candy store. "What a great life…" He suddenly became aware of a presence behind him but didn't turn to face it. "Hinata Hyuuga, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Said girl approached him, glared at his telescope, and casually took a seat nearby. "I heard about what happened a few nights ago."

"Really?" He never broke his gaze from the hot spring. "Didn't you notice anything at the time?"

She shook her head. "No; I was… preoccupied."

"Ah," he smirked, "Naruto, eh?"

"Yeah," her face reddened by a shade, "We… worked some things out."

"So how'd that go?" He subconsciously thought it hilarious that he turned out to be the one asking the questions.

She beamed at the thought of the blonde. "It went well. We're doing fine now."

Jiraiya cocked his head in acknowledgment then continued. "What'd you hear about it?"

"My subordinates-"

He suddenly eyed her. "You have subordinates?"

This caught her off guard; she didn't find it odd. "Yeah… anyway, they recorded all the conversations in the Hokage Tower, so I know everything that was said in there."

"I see." He returned his eye to the telescope. "And?"

She sighed. "There was a lot to go through- I've kinda been ignoring the last few weeks. Naruto and I stayed up a couple nights listening to everything. Lady Tsunade and a few others seem to think that there's a secret organization dating back to the time of the first Hokage."

"Really?" This was news to him; his information network was more or less focused on the Akatsuki. "What do they have?"

The Hyuuga prodigy launched into an abridged explanation of the head ninja and her underlings' findings as well as her own information; the records missing from the archives, Hashimara's journal entry, and the nine-tailed fox's obscure mentions. That portion of her monologue really caught the aged man's attention.

"Omega Project?" That was the one thing the genius girl hadn't gone into at all. "What's that?"

She grimaced and shook her head. "No idea, and that's what bothers us. All we have is a name, and we don't even know if it's active or not."

He whistled. "That's dicey stuff. So what do you plan to do about it?"

Hinata took a breath. "The fox said that the Shangri-La- the Sharingan- was created to handle materials for it. At the very least, we should control every Sharingan we know of in order to prevent anyone from using it for the Omega Project."

He nodded. "And…?"

She looked him dead in the eye. "Naruto and I think we should go after Itachi Uchiha."

The Sannin's uplifted brow displayed his mild surprise. "Why him? Why not Sasuke?"

"Sasuke's looking for Itachi, so if we find the older one, the younger one will follow. Two birds with one stone."

He grinned after a moment. "Smart move. So why tell me about it?"

The blue-haired girl sighed and ran a few delicate fingers through her hair. "Naruto's informing Anko Mitarashi…"

"Anko?" What a random person. "Why her?"

"Long story. He's informing her of our decision to pursue Itachi about now so she'll relay that message to lady Tsunade."

The toad master continued to gaze at her blankly. "You didn't answer my question though- why tell me? What do you think I could contribute?"

"Naruto tells me that you've got a serious spy network, and since you figured out our secret I'm inclined to believe him. You're looking into the Akatsuki organization, right?"

"Yeah. But what do they have to do with the Omega Project?"

"If the Omega Project requires a Sharingan, then there's a small possibility that the Akatsuki is trying to revive it by using Itachi. While Naruto and I search for Itachi, you'd be perfect for gathering a little intel on what they're really up to."

Jiraiya eyed her for a moment longer then took a deep breath. "A couple months ago, one of my sources pointed to the Rain country as a base of operations for the Akatsuki. I planned on heading over there myself and checking things out, but the shit really hit the fan here so I got a bit distracted."

Hinata had nothing to add; what more was there to say? "Well," she stood to her feet, "Now that we're all caught up, I'll be taking my leave." She waltzed away when the aged man's voice stopped her.

"You heard about the people who attacked us, correct?"

She turned to face him. "Yeah. Strange techniques."

"Do you really think they're connected to the Akatsuki?"

Her lips stretched to a thin line. "I have no idea, but what other leads are there?"

His eyes went to the clouds and he shrugged when nothing came to mind. "Nothing, I suppose. I don't like it, though. Not one bit."

The Hyuuga prodigy produced a sad smile. "Neither do I. But what else can we do other than persevere?" With that, she departed from the scene with absolute silence.

Jiraiya chuckled to himself. "Sounds like something Naruto would say…" He returned his gaze to the hot springs and he started drooling again. "Oh, yes, you were born gifted…"

--

Naruto sat inside the darkness of Anko's apartment in wait for said woman's return. Hinata had agreed to meet up with Jiraiya and inform him of the situation so he could simultaneously visit the Mitarashi and bring her up to speed… sort of. "_I should leave out the fox. That'd tip her off big time._"

Beside the genius sat a lesser one; Shia. She had been adamant on accompanying him as of late, and she was rather quiet in the waning light of the sun. But soon enough, she had to speak up. "Curse," she kept her voice down, "What are you and Silence trying to do?"

He glanced at her. "We're hoping Tsunade assigns us to go look for a guy named Itachi Uchiha."

"Who's he?"

"A dangerous criminal."

This confused her, as her tilted head betrayed. "Then why are you looking for him?"

"You saw those blast doors at the bottom of the ROOT compound, right?" He received a simple nod in return. "We think that Itachi might be involved with that in some way."

"How?" she inquired innocently, invoking a deep sigh from the blonde.

"That's the thing; we don't know. We don't even know if it's relevant, and it's driving me nuts that there's no real lead."

Shia heard frustration in his voice. Raising a clawed hand, she hesitated for a moment before rubbing him on the back. "_This will take getting used to,_" she thought, knowing that she shouldn't fool herself any longer regarding her affection towards the older boy. The pain of this fact had dulled in the past few days, but it still gnawed at her heart. "It'll be fine. After all, you're working on it…"

He shot a humble grin at her and mussed her hair with a playful palm. "Thanks. I'm sure it'll all turn out in the end."

Both parties ceased their familiar gestures and continued sitting in awkward silence. Once again, the auburn-haired girl felt the need to break the ice. "Hey, Curse?"

"Yeah?"

"Am… I a… bother?" This earned a confused gaze from the genius.

"What brought _that _up?" he replied noisily. He didn't expect her self-esteem to plummet so badly again.

"Because…" she didn't break her eyes from her fidgeting fingers, "I'm not as strong as you… or Silence…"

"Hey," he planted his hand atop her head with purpose, "What are you talking about?"

She swiveled her head in place to gaze at him with hidden eyes. "All those times you fought, what did I do? I never did anything to help… and… I'm starting to wonder if there's anything I could really do for you…"

His smile shone through the open mouth of his crimson mask. "Come on, you sell yourself short." He repositioned his arm around her shoulder and pulled her next to him. "For starters, you know more about elemental seals than most of the ninjas in the village."

"That's…" she quietly attempted to formulate an excuse, "Just because of you…"

"Hey," he flicked the side of her mask, "That was all you. You studied all that stuff when I was away." A calm silence ensued, and he continued to heap on the praise. "And who was the one who evaded every ninja in Konoha at night for three years?"

She didn't respond immediately. Rather, she stared ahead before nodding in resignation. "I… guess that counts for something…"

"Right!" he ruffled her hair again, "You're already one of the strongest people I know." He chuckled and his voice adopted a playful tone. "And you know what? When you're older, you're gonna be beatin' off the guys with a stick, too!"

This earned a shocked glare from the girl, albeit a concealed one. "W-what are you saying?!"

If his brilliant eyes weren't hidden, he would have winked as he vigorously rubbed her captured arm in jest. "You're a real cute one, you know?"

For once, Shia was grateful for the mask. She turned her face away with a mad blush and squirmed. "_He thinks I'm cute?! Even… even after everything that's happened?!_"

"And," the blonde added more sullenly, "It's gonna be fun watching you grow up. You're gonna be a fine ninja and a beautiful woman." He couldn't help laughing under his breath- he knew Shia's cheeks were about to burst from all the blood rushing to them.

When she finally composed herself, she turned back to him and halfheartedly jabbed him in the ribs. "You talk like an old man, Curse." Her voice portrayed a small level of hope that had been absent mere seconds ago- Naruto's praise had boosted her morale.

He chuckled in return, but the young girl had a point. "_If only you knew how right you are, Shia. We're ninjas; we are forced to grow up way too fast._" His smile didn't dissipate though; he preferred not to contemplate his mortality.

Shia's head suddenly turned to the door. "Anko's home," she whispered, her voice low enough to sound like a conspirator.

The Uzumaki nodded and gently pushed on his adoptive sister's back, prompting her to get into position near the doorway. The outer door echoed through the front hallway as it closed and it was soon followed by the Mitarashi passing through her living room. The snake mistress froze when she felt cold steel against her spine, and she knew that could only mean one thing. "Ghost…" she calmly greeted the auburn-haired girl.

"Anko," Naruto replied in place of his faux sibling, "Long time no see."

"Curse!" she yelped, "Didn't see you there. What brings you by?" She didn't appear bothered by the fact that her life was being threatened.

The blonde prodigy waved at the Ghost. "You can let her go," he ordered casually before continuing. "I heard about the attacks a few nights ago."

"A little late, ain't ya?"

"Sorry," he shrugged, "I was busy at the time."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Did it have anything to do with the tremors?"

He grinned. "Yeah. Sorry about that!"

"What'd you do?" she added sarcastically, "Blow up half of Konoha?"

"Uh… I don't know." Noting her shocked expression, he chortled. "Depends on how big the ROOT compound was."

"The ROOT?"

"Yep. You don't need to worry about them anymore."

Anko's shoulders slumped as she took this in. "_He destroyed the ROOT all by himself? In one night?! Holy hell, how strong is this guy?!_" She shook her head to organize her thoughts. "Hold on, what about Danzo? Did you kill him, too?"

"I don't think so…" He honestly didn't know.

"Well… did you recover any evidence to use against him?"

Once again, he shook his head. "Nope."

"Why the hell not?! That was you're idea!"

"Hey," he held his arms out in an innocent shrug, "Ninja's improvise, don't they? Besides, I doubt we'll see him anymore now that the ROOT's gone."

She schooled her nerves and took a deep breath. "How can you be so sure? Wasn't he in charge of all the crazy shit going on?"

He grimaced; it was time for his and Hinata's assumptions. "I don't think he ever _was_ in charge."

"What do you mean?"

"From what I heard, the guys who attacked you didn't wear masks, right?"

"Right…"

"And they used weird techniques too, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Does that say 'ROOT' to you?"

She scratched her cheek in contemplation. "Who knows? Wasn't that the whole point of ROOT? To create shinobi who used a variety of techniques?"

"But they didn't kill you. They ran. Do you think Danzo would train his ninjas to do that?"

"Ah." She saw his point. "No... so… who's in charge?"

His lips flattened into a line. "We don't know. But we have reason to believe the Akatuski group is involved."

Her brow rose at the mention of the criminal outfit. "Akatsuki? How?"

Curse sighed. "We… don't really know that either. We're almost flying blind here…"

The sweets lover placed her hands on her hips- an obvious sign of dissatisfaction. "Then how do you figure the Akatsuki's responsible?"

Naruto grinned; Anko knew how to ask the right questions at times. He held up a finger and said, "Sharingan."

This caught her off guard. "I… what?"

The blonde launched into explanation mode, careful to dodge specific facts that would be detrimental to his hidden identity. "Our sources tell us that the Sharingan is somehow tied to something called the Omega Project." He held up a palm to halt the inevitable questions. "And before you ask, we don't know either. It's like an information vacuum."

"Then… you think that the Akatsuki is running this 'Omega Project'?"

"I'm not sure, but at the very least we need to keep the Sharingan away from anyone who'd need it."

The Mitarashi nodded dumbly; she was having trouble wrapping her brain around all this new information. "_First Orochimaru, then Danzo, now the Akatsuki._" She realized she forgot another equation and brought it forward. "Wait, if you know about the attacks several nights ago, what else do you know?"

He smirked. "Everything talked about in the Hokage tower."

"Then… you know about the tailed beasts?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "_Actually, that worries me just as much as everything else. It's hard enough controlling one demon, let alone all nine. And to be able to do it all those years ago without anyone knowing about it…_"

"Do you know anything about that?"

He grimaced and shook his head. "About as much as I do the Omega Project."

"Pff, some help you are…"

"Hey, don't knock it. It was hard work getting as far as I did, and I plan on seeing this all the way through."

"So what do you want me to do?" She sounded apprehensive, but who could blame her? Being asked to follow orders on little more than blind faith was a difficult thing to ask of anyone.

"Just tell Tsunade that we need to capture Itachi Uchiha. Once we have him, Sasuke Uchiha will come looking for him and we can capture him too, and then we'll have all the remaining Sharingans."

"That simple, eh?" She didn't sound convinced. "Anything else?"

He cracked a sudden grin and aimed a finger at the Ghost. "Yeah- meet my sister!"

Anko didn't know her eyes could bulge so wide, but they did. She gawked at the masked genius as he laughed and jerked his thumb to summon the Ghost. Dully noting that said girl seemed a little more squeamish than before, the snake charmer observed the duo scamper from her open window into the night without saying a word. "_Well… that was… interesting. Is there a family of powerful ninjas no one knows about…?_"

--

Tsunade stood in one of the many rooms located in the Intelligence Division Headquarters. A tape was delivered earlier that evening, and the people in charge here told her that she would want to see it. "Now why should I be interested?"

"You'll see in a minute," Ibiki calmly stated as he slid the tape into the player.

The screen popped to life and the static of the home video cleared to reveal a man bound to a steel chair with a burlap bag over his head. The blonde Hokage's eyes recognized a few distinguishable features and frowned when the hand of the camera's owner appeared onscreen and yanked the bag off the captive's head. "Danzo…"

"So…" the off screen voice quivered, "Tell me your name…"

"You know damn well who I am." The old war hawk kept his cool rather well in such a situation.

The camera moved in closer and the familiar hand appeared again, this time holding a shard of glass under the man's lone eye. "Now, now, now…" the feminine voice chided, "We can't have any of that. Let's start again!" The voice's cheeriness was unnerving, considering its owner's actions. "What's your name?"

He glared at the lens. "Danzo."

"Very good!" the woman chirped and retracted her glassy shiv. "Now," the camera shook and croaked as it was repositioned, "What can you tell me about the ROOT?"

Danzo maintained his deathly stare. Tsunade could tell from his subtle hand movements that he was testing his bonds, but she could also tell that the chords were lined with enough explosive tags to incinerate a small building. "You have abducted an elder of the village," he remained vigilant; "Your punishment will be great."

For his stubbornness, he received the shard of mirror in the bandaged side of his face and gasped at the sudden pain. "Wrong answer!" the voice announced as it left the shiv in the covered eye and produced another. "This won't kill you," she placed the edge directly below Danzo's opposite eyelid, "But it'll hurt a lot. And I've got a _lot_ of these. If you're lucky, you might survive the night. Now… what can you tell me about the people who attacked us a few nights ago?"

The war hawk seemed to consider her threat. "Those were not my men," he answered calmly despite the drop of blood drawn from the sensitive flesh. "They belong to an associate."

Tsunade wondered how much the man went through. "_He must be desperate if he's cracking this easy. Who could be so powerful that he feels this threatened?_"

"Nice!" The hand retracted the makeshift weapon. "Now, who is this associate of yours? Is it the advisors? Are they in on it?" The woman behind the shaking camera was being melodramatic about this taped interrogation. Once again, the former ROOT leader remained indignant and simply glared at the mysterious woman. Apparently, the third time was the charm; the voice cracked and the female boomed, "Answer me!!"

Danzo said nothing for a moment longer. "I do not know his identity, but I can tell you this: he is no one to trifle with. He has betrayed me and the advisors and called our contract legal all the while."

"Hm… that's good, that's good. Now, tell me where the ROOT base is."

The aged war hawk pondered giving up the answer and decided to do so when the camera faltered forward- most likely another looming threat. He proceeded to divulge the exact location of his private army's base of operations, but he immediately followed it up with another statement. "I haven't been in contact with any of my men for over a week. I am no longer in control of my own organization."

"That's fine, that's fine," the cheery voice consoled him before unceremoniously yanking the glassy shiv from his bandaged eye. "You'll be in control soon enough." With that, the woman slammed the bloody mirrored blade into Danzo's unharmed eye. The camera zoomed out of focus and danced chaotically around the fuzzy environment to the tune of the wisps of wires and the clangs of metal on rock. The lens was returned to the blind captive and briefly focused on the dim walls to reveal wallpaper made of explosive tags. Wires now ran from the potent walls to the prisoner; if he so much as twitched too far in one direction, everything would come down on him.

Tsunade gaped at the amount of tags lining the environment. "My God! If those go off, we'll lose a city block!"

Ibiki politely shushed her. "Lady Tsunade, there's one more thing."

"What could possibly be… more…" Her eyes widened as the camera swung in place and focused on the face of the interrogator. "S-Shizune…?"

The younger medic was barely recognizable through the layers of black and white face paint smeared across her face. Her hair looked like she hadn't bathed since her escape several days prior, and her lips were split into an ear to ear grin that screamed nothing less than madness. The demented woman giggled uncontrollably into the lens before speaking. "Lady Tsunade, he's all yours!" With that, the camera was lowered to the ground and the screen reverted to static as the tape reached its conclusion.

The blonde Hokage couldn't believe it. She knew Shizune took in a major dose of hallucinogenic substances and could no longer function as a proper ninja, but a human being? "Oh my God," she bit her thumb and her eyes watered with the notion of the permanent loss, "I'm so sorry, Shizune…"

--

The dark walls of the subterranean complex echoed with lonely footsteps. A door squeaked open to reveal a chamber brimming with medicines and elixirs; many of which were forbade in villages worldwide. Kabuto sighed unconsciously as he approached his workbench to prepare another batch of potent drugs for his ailing master. "_He'll have to switch bodies soon,_" he knew, "_Although I wonder; will Sasuke submit to him in his weakened state?_" The treacherous medic chuckled at the idea of being able to defeat Orochimaru if the younger Uchiha happened to disappear when the snake master needed him most. "_Not entirely out of the realm of possibilities…_" He turned on a heel to make the long trek back to his superior's room and was met by a shadow blocking the doorway. Instincts kicking in, he slid into a battle stance and eyed the stranger. "How long have you been there?"

The figure gave a jarring smile as it stepped forward. "I have not been waiting long."

"What do you want?" The Yakushi prepared a chakra scalpel in his hand, ready to tear into the stranger's heart.

"I am told your nervous system is remarkable; I am in need of something that can rapidly heal my body during battle."

Kabuto frowned; was this man a medic? How else could he make the correlation between the nervous system and the chakra network? His eyes widened when the man finally stepped into the dim light. "Who… are you?"

The man smiled. "Many soldiers die at the hands of a general whose name has never fallen upon their ears."

If anyone stood in the hallways outside the room, they would have heard the rare screams of Kauto before the ensuing silence. The infamous Sound medic was now departed from the world, although a part of him lived on in a way he would have never guessed.

--

Orochimaru hacked up blood as he awaited Kabuto's medicine. The nasty stuff wasn't soothing by any stretch of the imagination- a testament to the incredible torture surging through his body. "_I need Sasuke,_" he choked in his mind, "_The pain is too great!_" His labored breathing left him feeling lightheaded, but after a moment he realized he wasn't alone. "Who's there?" he questioned calmly as his eyes trailed to the door to locate the stranger.

"Ah, Orochimaru…" a familiar voice greeted, "We meet again, although it is unfortunate that it could not be under more favorable circumstances."

He eyed the newcomer. "You again…" he wheezed, "I haven't seen you in… years."

"Yes, it has been quite a while."

The sickly Sannin glared as best he could. "You wouldn't come here yourself if it wasn't important. Out with it."

The man chuckled lightly. "To the point, as always." He held out his arms in a friendly gesture. "My dear Orochimaru, I am here to offer you a deal."

He coughed, knowing that this new agreement was bound to be underhanded in some way. The last one was, so why would this one be any different? "What?"

The seemingly benign figure approached the bed but kept his distance. "I am here in person to offer you a new body- an exceptional one, I might add- as well as access to as many subjects as you require."

This sounded good, but the snake master vividly remembered the last deal. "_If it wasn't for him, my experiments in Konoha wouldn't have been discovered._" He inquired further. "What's the catch?"

With a benevolent smile, the man replied, "Simply that you perform a few key tasks when such times become necessary."

Orochimaru sneered; an errand boy? "I refuse to be an underling. No deal."

"Ah, that is unfortunate." He appeared downcast, but the pale Sannin knew better. "But that is your choice, and I will abide by it."

A moment of tense silence passed and the dying ninja broke it. "There has to be more- you wouldn't be here in person to offer me a job."

"Ah, as astute as ever!" He clapped his hands in an exaggerated show of jubilance. "I am also here to inform you of your collateral payment."

"My what?"

"Oh come now, do you not recall the night you departed Konoha? You broke our contract and stole one of our joint experiments."

The snake master dove into the depths of his memories. "That thing that called itself Mosh-mosh before its vocal chords were removed? What about it?"

Once again, that unsettling smile. "I am also here to extract something of equal value."

"Why tell me? You're the one stealing it…"

"On the contrary- it is due. My merchandise was exceptionally valuable at the time, and now I am simply extracting materials to make up for lost time."

Orochimaru's patience wore thin. "I've heard enough. Leave, or I'll kill you."

The man smiled and bowed. "As you wish, Orochimaru." He turned to leave but paused before doing so. "Also, in regards to your inquiry as to why I am here in person- it is common courtesy to bid final farewells in person."

The pale ninja's eyes frowned. "What…" his voice choked and his head bent down to cough again. When he raised it, his former ally was gone. "_What did he mean…?_"

His question was answered by a sparkling blade of chakra surging through the door. He raised his arms as shields and caught the non-corporeal weapon before the wooden barricade was sliced to bits. There in the damaged doorway stood Sasuke Uchiha, and he was prepared to seal his superior's fate.

* * *

What will happen to poor Shizune?!

Just how will Kabuto's nervous system get used?!

And how will this new turn of events affect the search for Itachi?!

Phew. Now that the Itachi hunting arc is in place, things will change. Big time. I am formally announcing the end of an era. Which era am I talking about? (hint: it has something to do with cannons (hint no. 2: I've used this phrasing before))

So have fun. See ya'll later!


	37. Back from the Dead! Dead from the Back!

Alright, alright, this one's not quite as long as the ones before it, but I really wanted to conclude scenarios before launching into the fighting (there's a lot of it from here on out).

Plus, classes are really kickin' my ass as of late. Sorry, but when I've got the choice of doing character turnarounds or writing fan fiction, the carpal tunnel inducing drawings take precedence.

* * *

The following is an omake (or a side story- you decide) by the venerable ShadowFaux. I edited a little for consistency's sake, but otherwise it's all him. Go over to his profile and thank him for his awesomeness.

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Naruto and Hinata sat in plushy seats that they had in their hideout, discussing various methods of hunting down Itachi. They both figured Tsunade would assign a tracking team with the blonde's squad, and the Hyuga and her comrades had made quite a name for themselves over the years.

"You talked to Anko tonight, right?"

"Yeah, she wasn't as violent as the last time we talked. Hell, she didn't even flinch when Shia put her claws against her back. How was the meeting with Ero-sannin?"

Hinata's face immediately contorted into a scowl when Naruto mentioned Jiraiya. "The lousy pervert was spying on women when I found him. He didn't even have the decency to show embarrassment when I spoke with him! The nerve!" As Hinata continued with her tirade, with the occasional castration threat, Naruto started rummaging around for something in his bag. When he looked back up, Hinata was done with her rant against Jiraiya, and was now curiously looking at him.

"Imagine having to deal with him for nearly three years. Even I was about to rip his head off. Care for a drink?"

Hinata blinked before reaching out towards the bottle in Naruto's hand. In his other hand was an identical bottle. They were curiously shaped, as the neck of the bottle was shaped like an empty roll of tissue paper, and the body squared out. They were filled with a dark amber liquid that sparkled like a thousand diamonds when the light reflected off of it. She could smell the alcohol coming off the bottle, like a sweet vapor that threatened to overwhelm the senses completely. She knew that this was MUCH stronger than the sake which she drank occasionally. She was guessing that the liquid in front of her had a proof of about 90, much higher than the 35 or so she was used to.

When she grabbed the bottle, she took an experimental sip before going into a coughing fit. She glared at Naruto as he raised his and chirped 'cheers' before downing it. Hinata watched for a second before following suit, resisting the urge to cough again. The rum tasted like bitter sugar, but also had a hint of spice in it. It made her want to cough as if she was eating grated black pepper, but she bore it. When she finished about half of it, she put it down and noticed that the room was swaying. Wait, the room was moving? Hinata shook her head but it did no good. Oh, the headache she would have when she woke up.

"N-Naruto..." she sputtered- her mouth felt numb, "What's this stuff c-called?"

He looked at her for a moment before responding.

"It's a drink called rum that Jiraiya and I found on our travels. Pretty weak if you ask me." He took another swig of rum before getting up.

"Care to dance?" He asked with a wide Cheshire grin.

Hinata tested her footing before slowly getting up, being careful not to bump into anything. Naruto took her hand after she tripped over air.

"A little tipsy, are we?"

Hinata giggled, before replying "Oh shut up."

Slowly, he led her towards an empty space in the hideout. With a snap of his fingers, a slow, melodious song that just made one want to snuggle up to the person one was dancing with began.

And that's exactly what Hinata did; swaying with the music, she wished that the moment would never end. But alas, that was never to come, as she managed to trip over something and force Naruto down onto the couch while landing on top of him.

They stared deeply into each others eyes before kissing- a slow, passionate kiss. One that left Hinata tingling all over after it was done. Suddenly, Hinata felt very tired. She yawned before snuggling into Naruto and drifting off to sleep. Naruto looked at her for a moment.

"Goodness, you're beautiful."

After a few moments of admiring her, he drifted off to dreamland, idly noticing that most of the rum was still there.

As the two slept soundly, Garaza poked her head into the room, curious as to the commotion. Her crimson eyes eyed the snoozing duo then trailed to the semi-empty bottles before rolling in their sockets. "Lightweights," she muttered. Suddenly, an idea struck her and her lips split into a grin. "Oh, Nuren…"

--

The next morning, Hinata woke up with a monster of a headache, making her flinch at the slightest of noises. The steady thumping of something soft, warm, and moving under her did not help. Wait a second… moving? She groggily opened her eyes to see a torso of somebody. She looked up at the face of her unofficial boyfriend before snuggling in again and drifting off to slumber.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up with the feeling of something soft, squishy, and warm on top of him. Looking down through cracked eyelids, he grinned. He waited a few moments before rousing Hinata from her sleep.

With a moan, Hinata came to, before blushing at seeing that Naruto was awake.

"'Morning beautiful, good rest?"

"Besides the pounding headache, yeah."

"Here, have one of these. Nuren said that they would get rid of the worst of hangovers."

Hinata looked at the small, brown pill questioningly before Naruto smiled at her.

"Nuren may be one of the worst addicts you'll ever meet, but he knows his drugs."

Deciding that it was safe, she swallowed it. Seconds later, Hinata immediately felt much better, albeit a little groggy. When she looked back at Naruto, he was looking at something. Hinata moved her eyes over at the spot he was looking at, and spotted the two now-empty rum bottles.

"…."

"…."

"...Hinata..."

"..Yeah?"

"...Why is the rum gone?"

--

**Why _is_ the rum gone?! Oh well... on with the show!**

* * *

The next few days were tense for those in Konoha who were somewhat privy to its secret happenings. Tsunade was under a lot of stress at this point, and without Shizune to help keep her in line by stealing her booze, the constantly incoming mountain of paperwork was backing up. She sat in her chair in midday, bottle in hand, when Jiraiya entered her office.

"A little early to be drinkin', eh?"

She eyed him. "Shut up. I'm running ragged here…"

"I know what you mean." He leaned against her desk. "Anko hear anything from Curse yet?" The aged shinobi knew the dual geniuses wished to keep even their contacts a mystery, so he decided to respect that for now. "_After all, sometimes it doesn't help to know everything… sometimes._"

Tsunade nodded and began explaining the Mitarashi's report to her fellow Sannin, unaware that his interest was perfectly feigned. Everything the snake mistress revealed- Danzo's defeat, the Sharingan, the Omega Project- was repetitious to the old man's ears. "Curse wants to go after Itachi… but I don't know about that."

"How so?"

She took a deep breath. "The village is my first and foremost concern, not some criminal who hasn't been around for a few years. I think figuring out what's going on at home should take priority over retrieving a rogue ninja."

He nodded with his sagely grimace. "True, true. So you must have a plan."

She sneered, but not at him. "Now that we know Danzo's ROOT headquarters is underground, I think the ANBU tunnels in sector six must run parallel to a tunnel connected to it."

Jiraiya added two and two. "You think that during the tunnel system's construction, they opened up a hole and found a second system."

"Precisely." She took another swig of alcohol. "I've already put a demolition team on it to find that second system."

"Wouldn't that take a while? We have no idea exactly where they run parallel. It could be no bigger than a manhole for all we know."

She nodded grimly. "I know. But I have to try."

An awkward silence passed. "What if you find it? Then what?"

"Anko and Temari are on standby with a few infiltration teams. If- when- we find the second tunnel system, they're going in to find the ROOT's headquarters."

This struck the aged ninja as an interesting turn of events. "So you've started letting others in on this?"

"Mm… sort of." She placed the bottle on the overflowing table and turned towards her former squad mate. "The way we picked up Danzo… there's no way I could have buried that." Her mind recalled the frantic search for the traitor following Shizune's capture of the man. If he died or faltered in the slightest, the ensuing explosives attached to him would have surely carved out a crater in the village. Thankfully, they found him in time and safely defused the insane number of deadly tags. "But all they know is that the ROOT is out of commission and they're going to investigate."

The toad master found an inconsistency in her plan. "Then why the Sand ninja? This is a local problem; out of her jurisdiction."

"A lot of shinobi are out on assignment- we need to fill the ranks. Suna's receiving a hefty sum for her continued services."

Jiraiya nodded as he took in all of this. "What if you don't find anything?" he inquired, "What if the ROOT really is gone and there's no evidence of this 'Omega Project' anywhere? Where will you go from there?"

She regarded him with a blank stare; obviously, she hadn't figured that part out yet.

"Look," the massive Sannin crossed his arms, "Regardless of the danger beneath the village, Akatsuki's a confirmed threat that we'll have to deal with at some point. They've already captured most of the tailed beasts, so it's only a matter of time until they come for Naruto. You very well may be chasing a wild goose when the real danger is staring you in the face. While we're busy strolling through few tunnels, the Akatsuki might just roll in, flatten the village, and take Naruto while you did nothing to prevent it. Do you want that on your conscience?"

Tsunade sneered at this train of logic. "_He is right on one thing- I don't know the threat level of whatever Danzo was involved with. It could be less dangerous than the Akatsuki, but it could be a bigger threat just as well. Either way, Konoha's in danger…_"

The white-haired master interrupted her thoughts. "A contact of mine suggested that the leader of the Akatsuki is located in the Rain country. Since you've got a handle on things here, I think I'll go check things out over there."

This broke her from her revelry. "No! What if things get bad here while you're gone?! What if we need your help?!""

Her sudden outburst surprised the Sannin. "_Is she… scared? I knew she was under a lot of stress, but this?_" He straightened and eyed the elderly woman. "I never had you pegged for an indecisive person. What happened? Why are you afraid?"

She eyed him and choked; she was generally adept at squashing her emotions, but everything that had been happening the past few days was catching up to her. The sudden arrival of a rogue element under Konoha, a nameless assailant that held his own against the toad sage and wrecked Shizune's mind, the looming threat of Akatsuki on the horizon… it was a lot for one person to bear. "Jiraiya," her voice trembled, "I… don't know what to do. Between Danzo and Shizune and the advisors and… almost losing you…"

He cracked a sad smile. "Hey, cut it out. You're the Hokage for crying out loud. You're the one whom everyone looks up to- the example for them all. So don't be like this." Jiraiya knew it had to be hard- that was part of the reason he declined the prestigious position. People who knew of him would attribute his choice to laziness and womanizing, but in truth he never really felt that he could live up to the name. "_I couldn't save my friend… protect my teacher… not even my student. What right would I have to call the shots?_"

Tsunade took several deep breaths with closed eyes to calm down. She lowered her head into her hands to relax further and contemplate the situation in a logical manner. "_Jiraiya's right. I don't know the scope of the problems in the village, but Akatsuki is a definite threat. If capturing Itachi curbs any threats, then I need to take that chance._" When she was certain her voice wouldn't fail, her head rose and she regarded her old teammate with reinforced eyes. "Alright, you go to the Rain country and see what you can dig up. I'll send someone after Itachi while you do that- maybe hitting them on two fronts will weaken them a little."

He smirked in response. "Will do, princess Tsunade." With that, he turned and strolled for the door. His hand rose in a wave before he disappeared from view.

The blonde Hokage watched after the man for a few seconds longer. "_Maybe when he gets back…_" She smiled to herself and wondered who would be best for the task of hunting down the elder Uchiha. "_Let's see… rumor has it that Orochimaru's dead and that Sasuke's roaming around. I think Naruto would be pumped knowing that there was a way to bring him back._" Her mind lightened a little at the blonde in question- she knew he was his own man, but he was still something akin to a family to her. "_But I doubt one team will be enough. They'll need a tracking team to find Itachi. Now what's the best team on hand…?_" She shuffled through the paper avalanche on her desk for the roster and, upon locating the hefty document, scrolled through it while marking off the teams currently on assignment. "_Looks like Kurenai's team is the only one available…_"

--

The tension within the village carried on into the evening, but not to the same extent as Tsunade's worries. Naruto was merely anxious; this was a monstrous mystery to him, and he prayed that he and Hinata could solve it in time to save the village once again. "_I just hope this isn't a wild good chase,_" he hoped while sitting on his bed in nervous contemplation, "_Otherwise, we'll be gone if the village comes under attack._"

That notion froze the blood in his veins- he hadn't even considered it until now. "_Wait… what if the enemies in Konoha want me and Hinata gone? What if they've planned all this out…? Planned for us to over think things and go looking for an answer to a problem that doesn't exist? Or am I just thinking too hard…?_" He clutched his head. "Ah, this is so frustrating!"

He attempted to analyze things further but couldn't; he was working on speculation alone at this point. "Damn it," he groaned, "I better quit before I get a headache." Lying back on his bed and closing his eyes to tune out the world, he caught the barest hints of an odor from his bed sheets. Specifically, he could smell Shia- her limited ventures under his covers had died out as of late as she came to terms with her familial status, but that didn't mean she didn't leave behind a signature scent. "_Where is she?_"

In a bout to satisfy his curiosity, he descended into his private chamber and poked his head into the parallel room. His brow rose when he found her working on something in nothing but a pair of boxers and that rag she called a shirt. "Shia," he started apprehensively, "What're you working on?"

Her head shot up and her wide angled eyes instantly receded- evidence that it was actually Aiya that had been working. "C-Curse!" the girl yelped, "I didn't hear you come in!"

"Yeah…" he brought the rest of his body into the cluttered room, "What's all this?"

"Uh… this?" She scratched the back of her head while glancing back and forth between the scattered scrolls and loose papers. She was obviously trying to hide something. "It's… um… research!"

"Research?" He bent over one of the shreds of paper and analyzed the inked seal work on it. "On what? I don't think I've seen this before…"

"Um… ah…!" Her arms flailed wildly as she pranced about the maze of ink and paper. "Don't touch it! It's really delicate!" She finally reached him and slammed into him with all her uneasy momentum.

"Alright, alright," he consented, backing away under her gentle push. She shoved him out of the room and followed after him with a small pout. He chuckled at the cute look on her face and mussed her messy brown hair. "So what're you working on?"

"It's a seal."

"Really?" This was good; she was taking the initiative. "Want any help? I'd kinda like to see it, too…"

She mulled the offer over in her head for all of two milliseconds and declined gracefully. "Nope! I've got it all under control!"

"You sure?"

"Yep!" she smiled.

He returned the friendly gesture before letting her go. "Alright. Want me to start dinner?"

"Yes, please."

"Will do." Naruto began scaling the ladder out of there. "And… uh… where are you going to sleep…?" She had been varying the locations of her bedding for the past several nights.

Her smile humbled a little. "I'll sleep on my cot next to you."

He shot her a toothy grin, glad that she was making an effort to move on. "Got it. See ya in a minute…"

When he disappeared from view, Shia sighed and returned to her seal-laden room. "_At least he'll like this…_"

"_Don't get your hopes up,_" Aiya spoke up, "_Remember, we're no more than siblings to him. That's not gonna change no matter what we do._"

"_I know…_" She plopped down and painted a few more strokes in the central mark to complete it. "_But I want to be useful._"

"_Don't we both? Now, looks like we've figured out the main seal._"

"_Yes- I think that's right. I'm pretty sure it's compatible with Curse's seal…_"

The second personality laughed. "_Guess all those nights of sleeping with him paid off…_"

"_Aiya!_"

"_But we ain't done yet,_" she ignored the primary self's bright blush, "_Grab the claws- we gotta put the support seals in them…_"

--

Sakura couldn't sleep; her mind fluttered with far too many thoughts and emotions for her to properly rest. Tsunade had summoned her and Naruto earlier that day and informed them of the hunt for Itachi and, ultimately, Sasuke. "_I'm glad we're going after Sasuke,_" she thought, "_But what'll I do when he returns? What will I say when we find him?_"

In an attempt to strike these old worries from her head, she rolled over. It failed miserably. Thinking of Sasuke these days invoked happy memories of times past, but not fond notions for the future. "_Even if Sasuke came back to us, would he still be himself? Would he ever see me the way I see him? For that matter, do I even see him that way anymore?_" She frowned, unsure of what she felt towards the rogue Uchiha. She tried to remember those old feelings of affection whenever she thought of the wayward ninja, but now his image no longer popped into her mind.

Rather, it was Naruto. "_Have my feelings changed?_" she honestly wondered, "_Could it be that I see Naruto like I did Sasuke…?_" A tear rolled down her cheek and her throat choked. "Damn it," she whispered to the night sky, "I don't understand it…"

--

Hinata was busy tying up as many loose ends as she could in her private lab. Naruto had graciously loaned her a storage scroll for her gear, and she was examining her rebuilt equipment before storing them in the marked paper. When she got to Yin and Yang, she slowed for a moment. "_I never did figure out how that crystal works,_" she mused, "_I don't even know what its original purpose is- I just started using it._" Licking her lips, she contemplated unearthing the device and doing a little research on it before thinking better of it. "_We're capturing an Uchiha. Two of them if things go well. I'd better not look a gift horse in the mouth until I know I won't need it._"

Once everything was properly stored away, she stuffed the scroll in her standard issue pouch and took a long visual pull of her concealed abode. An odd sense of nostalgia that was both quaint and unnerving tugged at her, and she started towards Garaza's cramped work station to distract herself from it.

"Hey Garaza," the Hyuuga greeted before sticking her head into the small room, "How're you- oh…"

Said Nashin turned her head to the younger benefactor with a satisfied smile, Nuren sitting next to her on the floor with a matching grin and faraway eyes. "Hey, Silence. What's up?"

The blue-haired genius creased an eyebrow at the comfy scene. "I've got a mission tomorrow- probably a long one. Heard anything unusual lately?"

Her smile transformed into a smug grimace. "Nope- just a few explosions."

"A few what?"

"Explosions." She aimed a finger at the noises' general direction. "The teams looking for an old entrance into this tunnel system…?"

"Oh… that's fine. Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Nope, that's it."

Hinata sighed happily and smiled. "Alright. Keep the place clean while I'm gone."

The crimson-eyed blood user saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

As the intelligent Hyuuga exited the confined space, she heard the squatter's voice trail after her. "Have fun in paradise, Silence!"

She simply shook her head at the boisterous druggie and approached her other charges- Shiori and Ichirou. "Hey, you two."

"Mistress!" they both greeted simultaneously before Shiori picked up the slack. "Are you setting off?"

"Yeah," she smiled humbly then clapped her hands together. "Sorry guys, I can't install your upgrades until I get back. Really sorry!"

They smiled nonetheless- their mistress was pressed for time. It was understandable. "Not a problem mistress," the male Hyuuga consoled with his trademark twitch, "We can wait for a while."

Silence knew this was true… sort of. The reason she had been putting off the reanimated duo's upgrades was because when she was finished, they would finally be more machine than human. "_They're necessary repairs,_" she knew, "_If I don't do it, they'll die. But still… it's better to hang onto your humanity, isn't it?_" She wished she could answer that moral issue, but she honestly couldn't. "Right. I'll do it as soon as I get back, though. Promise."

The mechanized duo continued their unusual smirks. "We wish you luck, mistress!"

She smiled one last time before turning to leave. "See you guys in a bit!"

--

The next morning, the sun was hidden behind a sheet of darkened clouds. The sky wept as the rains blanketed the earth in cold moisture in a summer shower, the ground slick with mud and wet grass.

The blonde genius's eyes cracked open to peer at the cloudy sky. "_One of those days, huh?_" He couldn't really describe it, but he felt the crying skyline was some kind of foreboding force- a sign of things to come. Naruto wasn't a suspicious person, not by a long shot, but with the situation deteriorating as it was, he couldn't help but notice that nagging feeling.

He prepared to turn over when he almost rolled onto a familiar figure. Shia, once again, was in his bed. This time, however, she wasn't smothering him. Rather, she took up the very edge and gave him his space. "_Well,_" he figured, "_Small steps, I guess._" He gently shook her shoulder. "Shia," he spoke lowly, "It's morning."

She groaned. "Five more minutes, bro…"

This struck him as odd- this was the first time she had ever referred to him as something other than his alternate name. "_She looks really comfortable. Come to think of it, she might have shared a bed with her real brother when she was still with the Sound…_" He decided to give it another go and poked her in the nose. "Shia," he spoke a little louder in her ear, "Wake up."

Her eyes gradually fluttered up and she blinked before yawning in the blonde's face. "Morning…" It didn't seem to occur to her that she shared the same covers as her adoptive sibling. "Is there time for breakfast?"

The Uzumaki nodded and swung his legs off of the bed. "I've got an hour before I have to be at the gates."

She stretched and almost gave the blonde an eyeful thanks to her flimsy sleepwear. "You have a mission today?"

"Yeah." He knew what was coming next. "I don't know how long it'll take, though. Hinata and I are going after a missing ninja that used to be from here…"

Shia smiled and giggled. "Sounds like fun. I'll tag along…"

The young genius opened his mouth to argue then thought better of it- when had he ever actually won an argument against the preteen? "_Besides that, what can I do to stop her? She'll just follow us anyway._"

Said girl sleepily made her way to the kitchen and began pouring water into a pan for boiling with all the speed allocated a turtle. It was apparent that she was up late- Naruto had missed her completely the previous evening- and she was paying for it. But she was a ninja, so she took it with no complaints.

The blonde genius dressed himself, stepped into the kitchen, and eyed her curiously. "_She looks more mature,_" he mused, attributing the change to her gradual acceptance of her familial position. "_It's a sad way to grow up,_" he thought, knowing that it was due to misfortune in life rather than experiencing good times, "_But at least she's rising above it._"

Minutes later, the two were seated and eating a breakfast of champions- instant ramen mixed with warm vegetables and cold meat. The Uzumaki filled Shia in on the mission parameters as well as what little was known about the Akatsuki. She drank in the facts with multiple nods and, soon enough, concluded the casual briefing by washing the bowls in the sink.

The male prodigy packed all his gear, being sure that his alternate outfit was properly sealed in one of several scrolls. Once he was satisfied, he stood to his feet and glanced at Shia before twitching for the door. He did a double take as the auburn-eyed girl approached in most of her gear; her mask was still in her clawed hands. Naruto felt that something was off, but he smiled at her.

"Hey," he ruffled her unruly hair, "I'm proud of you, you know that?"

She smiled at the affection. "Thanks!" she chirped.

He opened the door and pulled her to his side with an arm hooked around her neck. "You know," he started as they walked through the door, "When we get back, I'll introduce you to someone I know. I think you'll like him." He shut the door and locked it. "He's about your age- name's Konohamaru…"

--

Naruto stood before the gates, frustrated at the downpour. It reminded him of Hinata's concealed techniques, and it took every ounce of willpower not to interact with the now 'shy' Hyuuga like he wanted to. "_Oh well,_" he analyzed, "_Can't win 'em all…_" As the dual squads began moving through the foul weather, a small grin found its way to his lips- he could feel Shia's presence moving behind them."_Well, Kiba and Akamaru haven't noticed her yet, and I don't think Shino has either- they'd have said something by now._" A familiar presence came up beside him and he averted his eyes. "Hey, Sakura."

"Hi, Naruto," she greeted in return, keeping her voice low. She couldn't shake the feeling that the blonde meant something more to her these days and she wanted to confirm it. "So… who do you think we'll find first?"

The Uzumaki almost sneered. He could see small talk from a mile away- and from this damn girl of all people. "_If there's ever been a time to be a bumbling moron, now would be it._" He gazed ahead and said seriously, "We'll definitely find Sasuke and bring him back. That's a promise of a lifetime…" Of course, he thought differently. "_Damn it, why did I have to get caught up in that moment so long ago…? I don't wanna find him- I wanna kill him!_"

She smiled ever so slightly. "Hey, Naruto…?"

"Hm?"

"You… don't have to do this alone. I'll help you bring Sasuke back. I… don't want to be a burden to everyone anymore. I don't have to be a burden to you…"

"You're not," Naruto groaned inwardly. "_Oh lord, what did I do to deserve this? Wait, don't answer that…_" He simply stared at her for a moment longer before she broke off, resisting the urge to punch her in the face every millisecond she hung around him. To him, she was nothing more than a medic, and even then she couldn't compare to Hinata.

But Sakura left with a warm feeling in her chest. She felt that she knew herself a little better now, but a tiny part of her was still loyal to Sasuke- it wouldn't be won over so easily. "_But… I'm sure if I try, I can be true to myself…_" The Haruno was too busy with self-reflection to notice the glare jabbing into her from behind.

Hinata knew what the pink-haired girl was trying to do. She smirked internally at the futility of it all, but it didn't make her any less jealous. "_You'll never win him over,_" she mentally taunted the fellow shinobi, "_If you really loved him, you'd know more about him like I do instead of trying to get his attention…_" She cut off the inward rant before it could continue- she needed her full attention available for any Uchihas in the area.

--

The demolition teams were having one hell of a time locating the parallel hallway that led to the second tunnel system, and their lack of haste wore thin on Anko's nerves. She glanced at Temari sitting beside her and wondered if the foreign ninja felt the same. "Ready for this, kid?"

The sand shinobi eyed her warily and shrugged, irritated that the snake charmer saw fit to give her such a childish nickname. "Who knows?"

"You said there was a tunnel system under Suna, right?" Receiving a simple nod in reply, she continued. "Shouldn't that give you a clue?"

Once again, the blonde teen shrugged. "I got the feeling that Suna's hidden tunnels hadn't been used for a long time. That obviously isn't the case here since we're going in to investigate Danzo's group."

The Mitarashi stuck her lip out in consideration. "Good point." Truth be told, there wasn't much to talk about- they had already exchanged everything they believed worth saying in wake of the demolition teams' snail pace. Well… almost everything. "You said some girl named Silence helped you out in Suna. Tell me about her."

Temari knew the older woman was simply trying to pass the time and complied with the unspoken plan. As she relayed everything she and the concealed Hyuuga went through, Anko easily noted the parallel between Silence and Curse given what little she knew. "_Like two peas in a pod. Guess every village has its nuts. Nuts that are strong as hell…_"

After another few hours, one of the demolition teams broke through the wall to be met with a blast of stale air. When the leading women were informed of this, they strode to the cramped worksite within the ANBU complex and nodded satisfactorily.

"Alright boys," Anko addressed the gathered ninjas, "Widen that hole a little more. Izumo, Kotetsu, you're with me and Temari. The rest of you- fall in line. We're going in on a threat assessment…"

--

Deidara and Tobi walked along the former's choice of path- the bomb user was out for blood; only the Uzumaki or Uchiha would satisfy his thirst for vengeance. Tobi, in keeping with his idiotic visage, was content to let the deadly artist stew, so he followed along with the man's plans with a hearty attitude. The oldest Uchiha was willing to let either of his interests be beaten around a bit by the irate sculptor- in the end, it would amount to little. His plans would continue forward and, one day, end with the destruction of Konoha. "_Revenge shall be mine,_" Madara swore to himself, "_And it will be sweet._"

"I'm telling ya Tobi," Deidara spat, "I'm gonna kill the first one I come across. I don't even care what the leader says- I'm killing 'em!" He was on a serious tirade at the moment.

"Yes, yes," the mask of Tobi assured his compulsive partner, "It'll be great!"

"Tell you what," he got an idea, "I got a great way of finding them…" The effeminate bomb user led his masked comrade to a nearby clearing, molded some clay in his extra mouths, and summoned a massive artificial winged beast. "Aerial reconnaissance! They'll never see it coming!" He bent his knees to leap onto the clay familiar when the faint sound of applause echoed in the air and caught his ears. Frowning, he turned in place to find the witnesses.

Two figures appeared from their unintentional destination on the dirt road, one of them casually clapping with a simple smile adorning his face. He looked like a well groomed civilian with his plain features and lanky hair; the only thing distinct about him was the tightly bound leather jacket around his slim torso.

The other character was something else entirely. He was a giant of a man, easily topping eight feet. He wore nothing but a pair of knee high boots over a ragged pair of woolen pants, and his muscled body was drenched in old scars. His hair was a crimson mane that flowed down his back and his eyes looked like orbs of hot blood. His appearance, coupled with his apathetic snarl, spoke volumes to this man's battle experience in the eyes of a shinobi.

"Veddy impressive," the clapping man announced with a thick accent neither Akatsuki member could place. "Truly a vurk of art. I can see zat hyu value ze importance of ze moment razer zan ze everlasting monument."

"Who the hell are you?" Deidara inquired angrily. He felt that, despite the praise, this smiling man was mocking his artistic work.

"Ah, zat is not important. Vhat iz important iz zat our charge iz protected. Hyu see fit to destroy him for ze sake of fighting, und fighting iz not a goot zing…"

He screwed his face up; this foreigner was royally pissing him off. "Fine, then! If I gotta fight you two to get my revenge, so be it!" He hopped on his clay bird and the thing's wings slapped at the ground and launched skyward.

"Ah," the leather-clad man stared at the sky in mock wonder, "Zat iz high…" He turned to his partner. "Gaza, vhy don't hyu handle zis one? Hyu know how I am during a fight…"

The scarred giant glared at him with silent eyes before stepping forward and engaging the airborne artist in battle. He would do his job, as would his coworkers.

Madara took this opportunity to approach the lone foreigner- he knew that these men were… different. Were they related to his associate? "You there," he addressed the man and attracted his attention, "Are you from Konoha?"

"Ah," he understood that only a select few should know this, "Hyu must be a client…"

"Yes," he nodded, "Do you bring news of Naruto Uzumaki?"

The harmless man smiled wide; this masked criminal certainly chose his words carefully. "Yah, und his delivery iz being orchestrated by un associate of ours…"

--

Team seven and eight travelled for some time until reaching the outskirts of a moderately sized town. Kakashi had planned on everyone splitting up to increase their chances of locating the rogue Uchihas sooner or later, and this was looking like the place to do it. He leapt to a nearby rooftop and halted, silently signaling everyone to do the same. When they did, he addressed them. "Alright, from here on, we're going to split up to look for Itachi…"

Sakura frowned at this idea; she wasn't comfortable with the notion of being separated from everyone- Naruto in particular- and possibly coming into contact with a dangerous criminal. It sent a chill up her spine. But when she opened her mouth to voice her concern, she realized that said chill hadn't dissipated. "_Why is it cold?_" She glanced around and noticed that no one else seemed to be too bothered by it, so she shrugged it off.

"All right," the Hatake concluded, "I'll pair you guys off with my hounds." He readied his palm for the summoning technique but stopped before he could touch the roof- was that mist? "_What the…?_"

Kiba rolled his shoulders underneath his parka. "Is it just me, or is it gettin' cold out here?"

Naruto took an experimental huff and actually saw his breath. "It is…" His moronic mask dropped for the moment, but the situation distracted everyone from noticing the subtle change.

Hinata noted the blonde's change though, and she snapped her bloodline into use. The moment she did, she saw the clouds darkening as the weather changed. "Is… is that…?" She began rubbing her arms for warmth. "Snow?"

"That's impossible," Yamato muttered as he stared at the shifting sky, "It's the middle of summer…"

Kakashi knew that whatever technique this was, it couldn't be good. "Everyone, move!"

The group instantly obeyed and scattered. Naruto and Hinata purposely stuck together, but they didn't get far before a cloud of freezing mist enveloped them and hardened into a wall of ice. The Hyuuga's Byakugan saw the incredible density of the frozen liquid, and no matter how hard they tried to run from the growing cage, it kept cutting them off. Soon enough, they found themselves seeking out their fellow ninjas in order to gather strength in numbers.

Unbeknownst to everyone, their unseen opponent seemed to have this aim in mind; the Konoha shinobi wound up bumping into each other, unable to escape the indestructible walls of ice that enclosed them in the crude dome. Sakura was beginning to panic- it was getting colder and her extremities were already feeling numb.

"What's going on?!" the medic girl pleaded, "Who's attacking us?!"

The Hatake's transplanted eye blazed and he stared at the freezing environment, but he couldn't detect any discernable technique. "_That means this is a natural phenomena or…_" he shuddered at the thought as well as the cold, "_A bloodline…_"

The group began cautiously moving as one, jumping at every column of ice that formed and blocked their path. Yamato attempted to break apart the impossibly hard ice with his wood techniques to no avail- he was simply outmatched in terms of strength.

Naruto glanced at his blue-haired counterpart in warning. Both were shivering in the dropping temperature and knew that if it kept up, they would have no choice but to expose their real selves in order to escape. The blonde reached out and squeezed the Hyuuga's cold hand in reassurance and mouthed 'get ready' when the ground began to rumble.

"Shit!" Kiba swore, "Scatter!"

Walls and pillars of ice sprung from the wet ground and began forming intricate structures of ornate beauty. It spread and crystallized without interruption into a grand roof and boulders of frozen liquid formed detailed murals that were frosty to the touch. Trees of fluid diamonds stretched across the crystal roof, reminding the Uzumaki of a structure he once saw on his trip with Jiraiya- something referred to as a 'cathedral'. If one could ignore the freezing air, it was a beautiful and tranquil sight to behold.

Now that the teams were in disarray, a haunting voice captured their attention. Everyone's heads shot towards the figure and saw him, whether in person or in the ice's reflection. He was a towering old man with frostbitten flesh who wore nothing but the threadbare remnants of a priest's cloak. His bare feet made a sickly sound as he trudged through the frozen environment and his face appeared as morose and sullen as the dead of winter.

"Who are you?!" Kiba shouted, being the hothead of the bunch.

The individual stared at the abyss with sad eyes. "It is so cold," he stated like a conquered man, "There is nothing but an eternal winter in my soul…"

Kiba verbally railed against the aged assailant while the others either huddled together for warmth or made attempts to break the ice. Neither worked, and Kakashi knew that this man was in control of a bloodline far surpassing his own. "W-who are you with?" he chattered, "What is y-your goal?"

The worn down priest spared him a sorrowful glance. "My sole wish is to atone for my sins." He ended his airy reply by gazing at the crystalline ceiling and invoking further frost. "There will be no more death by my hands…"

Hinata's active bloodline could easily see a pillar of ice descend from the snow-choked roof and pulled Naruto back. Columns of the impenetrable ice struck the frozen ground around them, cutting them off from the others and flattening the geniuses against a wall. The Hyuuga clung to the blonde in desperation as the tiny space forced them together like two mice on the same wheel.

"N-Naruto," her teeth chattered and she wrapped her arms around him, "I-it's s-s-so c-cold…"

He didn't say anything. Rather, His arms enveloped her and rubbed vigorously; he was freezing, and she was the only source of warmth in this frozen closet. "I-It'll b-be okay…" he tried to reassure her, but he couldn't think of any technique that would destroy the ice without harming her in the process. "_What do I do?! I don't want to die here! Not yet!_" He closed his azure eyes and planted his face on top of the captive girl's head, reveling in the fact that if he was going to freeze to death, at least he'd die with her.

But that was not to be. Suddenly, both prodigies fell through a sudden hole that opened in the wall. Stumbling through, their alert eyes darted toward the life giving exit only to find it reform in an instant. "What happened?" Hinata inquired in mild shock over being alive.

The Uzumaki quickly scanned the horizon; they were back outside. The unnatural winter still hung in the sky and snow still fell to the cold dirt, but they were no longer trapped. "He let us go…?"

No sooner had the blonde muttered those words than an outcropping of ice jutted out from the frozen structure and attempted to encase the Hyuuga. Naruto yanked said girl out of the way with milliseconds to spare, but the solidified liquid continued to follow her like a dog chasing a cat.

The two began putting distance between them and the bloodline prison, the ice giving pursuit for quite a while. It finally ceased forming when they reached the outskirts of the technique… about two miles away. Both leaned against trees to catch their breath; between being frozen alive and the sudden bout of running, they needed a breather.

"We…" Hinata wheezed, "Have to… go back… for the others…"

"No," the blonde genius shook his head, "The ice… went after you. If we went back… it'd just go for you again."

"Curse! Silence!" A familiar feminine voice sounded off from nearby to announce Shia's arrival. The moment she landed before them, her clawed fingers whipped off her mask and she glanced between the two with worry etched on her face. "What happened?"

"I don't know…" the blonde was no longer gasping for air, "We got attacked by an… ice… user…" As he stood and looked back at the frozen prison in which his teammates were trapped, he became breathless again. The Hyuuga noted his silence and glanced at the structure, instantly understanding why it rendered him speechless.

It was indeed a cathedral of ice. Crystal obelisks spiraled into the heavens and waves of columns snaked over the tree line. Hills of smooth ice lined the radius of the grandiose technique and gardens of icy trees clambered overhead. The sunlight was drowned out by the dreary sky, casting the crystal palace into the demure appearance of simple beauty.

"Aren't the others in there?" Shia brought the two back to reality.

Hinata glanced at Naruto with wide eyes. "We have to help them. They'll die in there…"

"I know," he nodded warily, wondering how to go about destroying the frozen grounds. This was disturbingly reminiscent of his aged battle with the effeminate Haku, and he recalled being able to destroy the ice mirrors upon invoking the fox's power. But that was a cramped dome of mirrors- this was intricate frozen architecture protected by a two mile radius of icy buildings. "_This is way above what Haku could do…_" He dredged the depths of his imagination for a solution before deciding to wing it; after all, that was his signature method. With this in mind, he approached the nearest wall of pristine crystal, formed a standard Rasengan, and then slammed the chaotic orb into the natural glass. He maintained the destructive technique for several seconds before releasing it and analyzed the damage.

"Nothing," he muttered under his breath, "That did absolutely nothing…" That wasn't quite true- it made a hairline crack on the microscopic level.

At this point, the Hyuuga had unsealed her gear and went to work with Shia's help adorning the armor. "_I've got a feeling things'll get hairy from now on…_"

Naruto cracked his knuckles and glanced back to ensure the female ninjas were far enough away. "_Good, just enough room._" He placed his palms together and began channeling chakra through his body. Muscle memory kicked in as the familiar technique clicked in his veins, and the chakra surging through his system began rotating. Seconds passed, and the rotation increased with mounting velocity. Ten seconds later, the Uzumaki slammed his hands into the wall and flew back, unceremoniously slamming into a pine tree. "Damn it…" The wall was cracked here and there, but otherwise the initial strike of his Nine Tornados had backfired. "Okay, I'll try it from here!" He hopped to his feet and repeated the process, this time aiming his arms into the air. The wind instantly spun into a massive whirlwind and, with careful precision, angled into the icy forest with ill intent. The spiraling air tore through the pillars and trees of cold crystal, breaking them apart as it grew in intensity. "_It's working…_"

But then mounds of frost formed around the ice and solidified with unnatural speed. His tornado began unsuccessful attempts to obliterate smooth boulders of slick glass with its spinning winds, and the blonde released the technique with a sneer. "Damn it! He counteracted it so _fast_!"

"What should we do?" The concern in Shia's voice was palpable.

"Better yet," Hinata secured one of her generator-laden arm guards, "What _can_ we do?"

The blonde licked his lips in thought. Before he could answer though, a ghostly figure of their attacker shimmered in the glassy wall. "You again!"

The aged stranger regarded the trio with tired eyes. "Your friends shall befall no lasting harm. There shall be no further death by my hands."

"They'll freeze to death in there!" the Hyuuga argued, earning her a lifeless gaze.

"They shall be safe; you have my word."

"What good is that?" the blonde spat, his glare promising death to the elderly assailant.

The man's response was merely to lower his head in humility. "I have committed many sins- killed the innocent, abandoned my own daughter and grandson. And so I shall spend the remainder of my days atoning for my past indiscretions."

"I don't care about any of that! Release them!"

He closed his eyes. "By delivering you unto your enemy, many shall be spared. It is a sad fate, but I chose the path that leads to the content of others."

Naruto sneered at the man's ambiguous responses but Hinata could hear the insinuation. "Our enemy? Which enemy?"

The frozen priest glanced at her. "You shall find your answer in the Rain village. Go now, for there is much to be done…" And with that, the mysterious ice user vanished from the glassy wall.

A moment of silence ushered on the three before being broken by the blonde slamming a fist into the solidified water. "Damn it! What the hell!"

"Curse…" the auburn preteen began, bothered by the teen's outburst.

Hinata sighed hard and cradled her masked head in her hand. "Naruto, I hate to say this, but… I think we should go."

He instantly eyed her. "Hinata, I might hate half the people in there, but that doesn't mean we can leave them here to die."

"You hit the ice with your most powerful technique, right?" Taking his grimace as a 'yes', she continued. "I know my affinities are no match for this, so there's nothing I can do…"

"So you think we should just abandon them and go looking for enemies?"

"I… I think the enemy was serious when he said they would be safe…"

"And you're willing to take an enemy's word for it?"

"That's not it…"

Shia's head felt like it was on a swivel going back and forth between the arguing couple. When the dispute escalated, she flung herself at the blonde to snap him out of his frustration. "Curse," she pleaded, "Please stop fighting!"

He glanced down at her and noted the concern in her muddy eyes. Knowing that her plea was genuine, he scratched her head and sighed. "Fine," he shut his brilliant eyes in defeat, "We'll head off to the Rain village… but we've gotta do something about this."

The blue-haired genius snapped her fingers and replied, "Send a messenger frog to Konoha. We've only been traveling for half a day- it should get there in a few hours…"

The blonde shuddered at the amount of time that would take, but what other options were there? He sighed in resignation before biting his thumb and performing the summoning technique. A puff of smoke later, there was an arm-sized toad at his feet.

"Yo, boss," the creature saluted him and attempted to ignore the smallest human's wide stare and open mouth.

"Hey." He scratched out their current coordinates on a slip of paper and ended it with the message of 'send help' before tying it to the frog. "Get this to Konoha. I want it there five seconds ago."

"Yeesh, you're a real slave driver, boss." But the summon argued no further before taking off for the Leaf village with as much speed as its legs could muster.

Shia couldn't stop staring after it; she had never seen a summon before. "_It talked…_"

Aiya was equally amazed. "_It fucking talked!_"

But if that had the young girl going, what Naruto did next would throw her for a loop. He summoned another toad- a familiar one this time. When the smoke cleared, a house-sized frog sat contentedly before the group. It looked down with curious eyes before croaking, "Curse! Long time no see!"

He grinned. "Hey Gamaka! How's it going?"

The boisterous summon bellowed. "It goes well! What d'ya need?"

"We need a lift to the Rain village- we're pressed for time. You up for it?"

It patted its armored belly. "Am I ever! It's been a while since I've come out; a nice hop would do me good."

"Great!" With that, he hopped onto the giant toad's back.

Hinata moved to join him and noticed a frozen Shia. "Come on," she waved at the girl, "It's okay- it won't bite."

The girl simply stared after the dual geniuses as they mounted the frog. Seconds passed and she didn't move. It took Gamaka glancing at her and addressing her to snap her out of it. "You joining us or is it just these two?"

"Um… uh… yeah!" She leapt onto the beast's back and positioned herself between the seated Curse and Silence. When the oversized frog took its first leap, she swallowed her heart. After a few more consecutive jumps, she felt herself adjusting to the speed, but not the situation. "_I'm sitting on a giant talking frog…_"

Aiya had something to add to that. "_It's a big ass talking frog!_"

Minutes passed before Gamaka decided to spice up the journey with a little conversation. "So Curse, didn't know you had two girlfriends!"

* * *

In case anyone reading this also reads my other fic (the Heresy one), here's some news: one of the characters that I have to do for one of my classes is (physically) based off of Asha (you know- the sex-crazed follower of Jashin?). The end result will look a little cartoony (aiming for characatured content), but it'll reflect what I see when I think of Asha.

Besides that, sorry for the shorter length. Life is getting realllllly busy lately. Nothing I can really do about it. I write whenever I can spare the time, and even then I can't work on fan fiction- there's actual fiction that I _have_ to write. Guh... junior year of college...

Sweet rum, take me away!


	38. The Calm Before the Storm! Some Calm!

Aloha! I'm still alive... barely.

First off, I'd like to apologize for such a long wait. While I'm sure many of you weren't really hanging on to the edge of your seats, I kinda feel mildly obliged to keep your interest peaked for as long as possible (seeing as how you're giving up valuable time to read this).

Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the length of this one. It's probably the worst in terms of length considering how much time I've had to write it. The reasons are twofold: I've had an unbelievable amount of work over the past few weeks and I just couldn't bring myself to get hyped up about the content in this chapter. I've tried to find ways to work around it without spoiling anything, but to no avail. In the end, I wound up trudging through it head first.

But enough of my lame (read: legitimate) excuses... on with the show!

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha was an irritable young man to say the least. He was on the warpath at the moment in search of his elder brother, carrying the hopes of seizing vengeance for the death of his clan. His search had stretched out far longer than he'd hoped in terms of time and distance. "Karin," he addressed the bespectacled girl without facing her, "Has he moved?"

She concentrated for a moment and answered in the negative. "Not even a little. It's like he's waiting for us."

If the youngest Uchiha hadn't squashed his emotions long ago, he would have smirked. Itachi had been stationary for the past few hours, and although he was a good distance away, that was enough for Sasuke's rising hopes. "_The sooner I find him, the sooner I can kill him._"

The rogue team continued their mad dash through the trees when Juugo glanced to the side all of a sudden. Karin noticed the monstrous boy's movements and knew that something instinctive spoke to him- she had been lucky enough to review his case files as of late. Knowing that the man's gut often picked up on the subtlest of dangers, she angled herself into a clear 'path', closed her eyes, and felt the air for anything out of the ordinary. Sure enough, the cursed boy's genes were correct- there was something headed towards them- or, more specifically, it would cross paths with them.

"Sasuke." She spoke and got the side of the leader's eye in response. "There's a huge chakra signature that will intersect us if we keep going this way."

"What is it?" He sounded like he couldn't care less.

"I think it's a… summon?"

The avenger's dark eyes twitched ever so slightly. No one noticed. "What kind of summon?" His inquiry sounded more like a command than a question.

Karin took a deep breath and focused harder. "I'm sorry," she acquiesced after a moment, "I can't tell."

Juugo's eyes locked on to the path ahead. "I can feel the vibrations. It's a frog."

Sasuke heard that and flinched; Naruto was in the area? "_How could that be? He couldn't know where I am…_" He sneered in his mind, remembering that the blonde in question was no normal ninja. "_I'll be fine, though._" Memories of his bloodline suppressing the demon fox reminded him that the Uzumaki was not an all powerful being. Far from it; the Sharingan was enough to render the blonde helpless in their last encounter, so surely it could do the same again. "_I'll just shut down his source of power if… when… I see him._"

Suigetsu wondered what contemplations ran through his impromptu leader's head. "So we goin' around, or what?"

"No." Sasuke's voice was ice cold. "It's not a danger to us…"

----

Naruto almost fell off Gamaka's oversized head thanks to the mightiest sneeze he'd ever produced in his life. "Hey," he addressed the two females behind him with a jovial grin as he scratched his nose, "Stop talkin' about me!"

Hinata snorted through her mask while Shia smiled back. The situation was dark in their minds, and any humor on any level was more than welcome, if only to distract them from the coming storm.

The dual kunoichis had spent the last few hours talking amongst themselves in hushed tones while the blonde genius struggled to dress himself in his alternate garb while remaining rooted to the summon. That scenario led to more than a little excess blood in the girls' cheeks, but their masks hid their embarrassment… or lack thereof. Shia might have been soft-spoken, but Aiya was not. The secondary personality proved this when, during Naruto's eventual battle with his pants, she whooped "Just go commando!"

But now that tedious moment was long gone, and as the blonde donned his mask to become Curse, he sat before the females to form a triangle. "So," he began, "You come up with any plans?" Any previous smirks or grins faded behind their visages and were replaced by hardcore poker faces.

"It's really hard to say," Hinata began, "We're just not prepared to move into the Rain village- we came to hunt Uchihas."

"I know," he replied in annoyance, "It pisses me off! Who the hell was that old man, anyway? Why'd he let us go?"

The Hyuuga recalled the ice user's incredible attack. "Actually, I think he intended to let _you_ go- his ice came after me, remember?"

He scowled; it was unpleasant thinking that the genius girl could be in the clutches of the enemy. Speaking of which… "Who do you think that old man works for?"

One obvious answer came to mind quick as a wink. "Akatsuki?"

Curse shook his head at this. "Then where was his cloak? And his ring?"

"Ah," Shia attempted to break into the conversation, "When you went on that mission to capture an Akatsuki spy, he wasn't wearing any of those either…"

He clenched his teeth; his adoptive sister was right. Kabuto, while pretending to pose as an informative to the late Sasori, maintained a low profile by simply being himself. And there was also the matter of the underlings disguised as Itachi and Kisame serving as decoys during the rescue operation for Gaara. "Freakin' hell," he planted his masked forehead in his palm, "There's no end to this…"

Hinata reached out and rubbed the blonde's shoulder with an understanding softness. "It'll be fine. Let's just take things one at a time…" She felt a pair of auburn eyes glaring at her but didn't turn in time to find Shia's perturbed gaze. The air was still tense between the two girls who, at one point, had been competing for the Uzumaki. She knew this awkwardness would pass one day, but today wasn't it.

Naruto felt the Hyuuga's affection and attempted to swing the conversation back to the task at hand. "Alright, do we know anything about the Rain village?"

Silence grimaced behind her iron visage. "Not much, I'm afraid. The best recon is in radio signals, but reception's really poor from Konoha. I've never really picked up anything worthwhile."

He eyed her. "What is it? Any information's better than nothing."

Her hidden brow furrowed in thought. "I think their civil war's over…"

The boy's eyes almost broke the mirrors over them. "You're kidding! That's huge! Who won?"

Hinata shrugged. "I don't know. All I could hear clearly were congratulations and praises. I never heard anything about a side…" Naruto was about to pry further when, out of nowhere, Shia's voice spoke in his place.

"They're fundamentalists."

Both prodigies stared at the young girl with raised brows. "They're what?"

She eyed them innocently. "If they are singing songs of praise, they're probably the fundamentalists."

For a moment, neither genius dared utter a word. Naruto broke the verbal stalemate. "How do you know that?"

The disturbed girl's head cocked. "That's where I'm from…"

At this point, both teenagers gawked at her. This time, Hinata spoke for everyone. "You're from the Rain village?! How?! When?! Why didn't you ever tell us?!"

Shia scratched the back of her head in a fashion imitating her replacement sibling. "I didn't think it was important…"

"Shia," Naruto grasped the girl's shoulders and stared directly at her hidden eyes, "It's extremely important. Tell us everything you know."

"Uh, well…" Her mindless hand rose and thumbed her chin. "I was very little when my brother and I left- I think I was only three. I don't really remember anything, though. I know it rained a lot." This earned a 'duh' look from the opposing prodigies but hindered her in no way. "And I remember one time hearing someone saying 'God is on our side' over and over." She giggled at the distant memory. "My brother used to say they were crazier than we were."

The blonde released the girl and stared in contemplation at his partner. Hinata gazed back- both thought along similar lines.

"We're up against fundamentalists?" Naruto asked a rhetorical question, "That's not good."

"Amen." She smiled but realized the joke was terrible. "Religious armies usually fight until there's no one left standing."

He nodded in affirmation; his brief stints with Jashin's devout were proof of concept. But those were only two killers. How would they face a whole village? "We're gonna have to do some serious recon before making a move. Shia," he turned back to the younger girl, "If you were in the village, would you remember places?"

She sucked in air through her mouthpiece in preparation for a dubious answer. "I'm… not sure. I barely remember the village at all, and it's been a long time…"

Hinata drank in all this depressing information and the gears whirred in her swift mind. "We should find Jiraiya once we get there," she stated in monotone, "The more of us there are, the better off we'll be."

Naruto nodded in confirmation; a four man cell with ninjas of their caliber would be insurmountable to any ordinary force. Akatsuki's leader would truly have to be a god in order to defeat them without dying in the process. Thoughts of victory with the people who meant the most to him burned a smile onto his lips. "Alright! That's the plan…"

Out of nowhere, the trio of heads swiveled to the east; something was upon them. Even Gamaka felt it and reacted. "Holy crap!" the giant toad exclaimed, "Where did he come from?!"

No sooner had the summon shouted than a massive snake bore down on the oversized amphibian. The giant reptile's fangs missed the leaping frog's body, but they did rip open one of its hind legs.

"Gamaka!" Naruto shouted as the familiar skidded to a halt and painted a bloody path, "You okay?!"

The oversize toad grunted in pain. "I'll live," he croaked, "But I'm not going anywhere for a while."

The blonde panicked for a split second before that tiny voice in the back of his head told him to calm down. Time stood still, and his hidden eyes glanced at the scrambling girls behind him before moving in the direction of the Rain village. "_We're only a few hours away if we really haul,_" he analyzed, "_And there's only one ninja left that we know of who can summon snakes._" An impromptu plan formed in his mind and slipped a grin onto his exposed mouth. "Gamaka!"

"Yeah?!" The toad was irritated at his gaping wound. Who wouldn't be?

"Frog oil, now! I'll let you go after that!"

The frog glanced at the summoner atop his head and built up the necessary bile in his throat. "Here!" he shouted before belching a horizontal waterfall of flammable liquid.

Hinata knew what her counterpart was up to and nabbed Shia by the sleeve. "Come on," she stated with intense calm, "We've gotta get off."

"But…" the poor girl's head swiveled between the two prodigies, "Curse…"

"He'll be fine!" She felt the summon's body rise. "We've gotta go!" With that, she flung an arm around the preteen's waist and leapt to the ground. An instant later, both kunoichis felt the searing heat.

Gamaka's spray of oil coated the landscape before him, snake and all. The instant the final drop left his moist lips, Curse spat a weak fireball into the liquid maelstrom and the slick fluid lit up. "I wish you well, Curse," the toad condoled before bursting from the mortal plane in a plume of smoke.

The Uzumaki dropped to the ground and his armored geta sandals left divots in the hard dirt. He straightened and unsealed his custom ninjato without peeling his eyes from the incredible blaze before him. The silhouette of the reptilian summon writhed in the flames and succumbed to gravity with a great crash, creating an eruption of gaseous plasma with its breeze. "_It's beautiful…_" For the smallest of moments, the blonde prodigy lost himself in the dancing flames as they licked the sky in graceful lethality.

The Hyuuga snapped her bloodline on and found four approaching assailants. "_They've got to take the long way around because of the fire, but they're fast!_" Her pale eyes narrowed and widened in pleasure upon noting that one of the sudden attackers possessed an aura she hadn't seen in years. "Sasuke Uchiha…" she mumbled, starting for Naruto before noticing that Shia hung back. Her all-seeing eyes knew the younger girl was planning to melt into the environment and wait for an opportune moment to strike, but she wouldn't have known without the use of her advance eyesight. "_Clever, Shia, clever…_"

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto spoke in little more than a whisper when said girl approached, "You see him?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "He's with three others moving around to flank us. Two of his party is going right and he's coming with another on the left."

The blonde nodded in mute understanding, stuck his seal-encrusted blade into the earth, and produced two handfuls of shuriken. The throwing stars were odd; grooves fitted for innumerable seals were carved into the slats that took the place of the standard central holes. His hidden eyes darted to the left and he froze like a statue. "You take the guys on the right; I've got a score to settle with Sasuke."

She eyed him with mild confusion as well as annoyance. "Are you stupid? He's seen you in action before. It's better if we gang up on him…"

"Sasuke wouldn't travel with pushovers," he explained with an icy tone, "Whoever's with him is bound to be strong, so I'll distract him while you finish off his buddies."

"What about the Sharingan…"

His lips split in a chuckle. "Don't make me laugh- he can't use it right. Besides," he turned to her with his smile, "He's got a thing for me, so he won't watch you so closely. Trust me, it'll be fine."

"It better be," she warned while her arm retrieved her folded spear and flicked it open in a single motion, "'Cause they're here…"

"Go get 'em," he encouraged Hinata as she darted off to strike the oncoming enemies. When she was out of earshot he added, "Be safe, Hinata…"

The blonde prodigy closed his concealed cerulean eyes and became a statue of flesh and bone; he might have been a genius, but he was still vulnerable to the Sharingan's mind tricks should he gaze upon it. Not a muscle moved as he listened for the familiar sound of footsteps amidst the crackling of the grandiose flames. He finally heard a tuft of grass flatten under a heel no more than ten feet away and he sprung into action. Channeling chakra into his custom shuriken, he formed seals of wind through the miniature trench work of grooves and promptly lobbed the air-sharpened weapons point blank into the assailant.

In all of this, he didn't take the millisecond required to register the appearance of his attacker. All the shuriken flew straight through their target, but said enemy was a boy who exploded into water and dropped an oversized blade.

"_That's Zabuza's sword!_" Naruto realized, reaching for his own ninjato while pouring chakra into the weapon. A configuration of seals lit up on the blade and flashed as the teen jerked the sword from the ground, bringing a flexible pillar of stone with it. Said column of hardened earth smashed into the remnants of the liquid attacker and blew him into droplets. The Uzumaki frowned upon the realization that the scattered spray began moving back into place to reform, but the blonde knew this ninja was a mere distraction. He felt a sudden presence appear from behind and, without enough time to turn, broke his ninjato free from the impromptu pillar and swung it behind his back.

It couldn't have been closer. Sasuke's familiar blade clashed with the custom sword in an instant, creating a tiny spark as the opposing metals met. The Uchiha now knew that the advantage of surprise was gone, so he thrust his free arm forward and clamped a fist of crackling energy. The chakra in his palm formed a temporary blade and shot forward into the blonde enigma…

Only for Naruto to spin on his axis and receive little more than a scratch as he turned with the flow of the manipulated blade. Ninjato still occupied against the snake user's blade, Curse put his thumb to his index and middle fingers on his free hand and lashed out at the younger Uchiha. A short blade of wind cut straight through the energy sword and grazed Sasuke's cheek as the aforementioned teen jerked his head to the side to avoid decapitation.

The Uzumaki's followed up his non-corporeal attack by gathering chakra in his chest. A single glance at the rogue ninja's face told the Konoha genius that Sasuke knew what was about to happen, and the Uchiha broke off from the point blank stalemate. The blonde's cheeks bulged behind his crimson mask and he belched fire at the repositioned traitor, accenting the attack by slashing another blade of wind into the flames to create an airborne sword of fire. But as predicted, the Sharingan noticed this and Sasuke leapt high into the sky out of harm's way well before he was in any danger.

Said avenger prepared to hurl an armful of poisonous snakes at his counterpart when he saw his opponent throw his arms to the side. Two giant shuriken appeared out of nowhere, although the Uchiha's bloodline saw the colorful chakra dissipating from the seals on the blonde's arm bracelets. "_Seals, eh? Two can play at that game._" In a wink, he sheathed his slim blade, pulled apart the wraps from his wrists, and unsealed a hail of his own throwing stars from the tattooed seals. Before Naruto could even grip his larger than life shuriken, Sasuke had the air filled with spinning metal.

This was not lost on the masked prodigy. He responded by reaching to one of the large tattoos on his back, releasing an oversized fan reminiscent of a certain foreign kunoichi, and launching a contained hurricane into the storm of steel. The instant the technique left the fan he dropped it, grasped the man-sized shuriken at his sides, and lobbed the enormous weapons into the fray before taking another swing with the fan. The second breeze spurned the huge throwing stars into faster trajectories, and the fan was sealed and replaced by the ninjato before the blonde could blink twice.

The Uchiha sneered; he knew going airborne was a mistake the moment Naruto pulled out a battle fan. Utilizing his curse seal, he formed a single grotesque wing to shield himself from the onslaught of rerouted shuriken and deadly winds. The second he felt the impacts recede he removed the fleshy appendage from his vision, caught the two giant shuriken flying his way through their central holes, and turned them on their sides to block the second assault of wind. When the deadly storm passed, Sasuke peered at the oncoming ground to find no Uzumaki in sight. "_Shit! Where did he go?!_"

He received his answer in the form of four clones jumping him the moment he touched down. With a flick of his sword, he dispatched one of them only to have the blade slowed when the copy deteriorated into sludge. Frustration mounting, he channeled an unnecessary amount of crackling chakra into his personal weapon and, for all practical purposes, blasted it out of the column of muck and passed it through the other three like a hot knife through butter. When the threat was neutralized, he braced for another attack and found none. His Sharingan saw no nearby signatures belonging to his former rival, and he wondered what was up. Seeing his chance, he melted into the foliage untainted by the raging fires to begin a game of cat and mouse with the blonde. The skirmishing ninjas were unwilling to commit to an end-all attack due to the hefty amounts of chakra required and the fighting they knew lied ahead with their respective targets. Both combatants faced the identical quandary of swift victory versus conservation of energy for the battles ahead.

When the two male geniuses engaged in their semi-covert warfare, Hinata was busy going head to head with the large male who apparently had a mental disorder. The redheaded female wasn't much of a contender, although the Hyuuga's attempt at stealth fell flat on its face when she initially confronted the duo. The large boy also possessed some bizarre genetics- he could transform portions of his body into grotesque fleshy weapons, and the blue-haired prodigy couldn't counter them with simple magnetism.

She swore under her breath as this 'Jugo' character slammed a bladed arm into the ground from whence she stood. Utilizing her momentum, she swung her unfolded shaft weapon and implanted one of its blades in the older teen's side… or so she thought.

Jugo was unfazed by the blow, and as his clothing fell apart his attacker understood why. A sudden growth had caught the blade before it could do any real damage and was pushing it away. Hinata activated the small generators lining her armguard's interior and sent a blast of electricity down the elongated weapon, prompting the disturbed boy to quiver as his nervous system took the blow. Her Byakugan seeing that the redhead was too far away to be of consequence, the Hyuuga charged her free hand with chakra to create a knockoff of the Lightning Blade and dashed forward to impale Jugo's heart…

When a monstrous blade came spinning out of the thick foliage on a vertical path. She hesitated on instinct as the oversized sword passed in front of her, but that extra second was all the berserking opponent needed to recover and fly at her with renewed vigor. "Damn it," she mumbled, twisting back as she planted the blunted tip of her shaft's blade against Jugo's foot to keep him from advancing during her retreat. Her bloodline noted that the loud enemy female had tossed a handful of weaponry at her back and she was forced to regard said attack, however pitiful it was.

Without removing her elongated weapon from the large teen's foot, she turned and, with one hand only, knocked the incoming kunai with precision taps. She cut her index finger a few times, but it was unavoidable; she was up against a small hail of bladed instruments with only one limb free to protect herself. The moment she neutralized the threat, she faced a new one- that of a teen with sharpened teeth who appeared out of a puddle and put her in a headlock.

"_What the shit?!_" She couldn't believe he got so close without her noticing, but a frantic expulsion of electricity shocked the boy so badly that she made her escape into the branches above. Once firmly out of harm's way, she analyzed the situation in two heartbeats. "_This thing's turning out to be a bother,_" she concluded, folding up her shafted spear and securing it to her back. "_Looks like the third guy came with Sasuke. I hope Naruto's alright…_"

Meanwhile, the redhead below saw fit to berate the newcomer. "Suigetsu!" she screeched, "What the hell are you doing?! You're supposed to be helping Sasuke!"

"Shut up!" he yelled back as he retrieved his sword, "Every time I get close to that guy he blows me up! I'm takin' on this bitch, thank you very much!"

Hinata sighed in relief. "_Good. Naruto's alive._" She placed her hands together in preparation for one of her numerous water based techniques when a sudden blast of heat caught her attention. Her superior eyesight saw Shia leap into action from her hiding place- somewhere hidden within the dying fire- with said flames trailing her seal-laden claws. The young girl halted short of Jugo and Suigetsu and thrust her arms forward in a wide arc, the carried fire blasting into the two boys with incredible intensity. But the berserking teen wasn't affected much by the attack, as was evidenced by him surging straight out of the conflagration. Shia, being the more nimble of the two, dodged with relative ease and ended up joining the Hyuuga in the treetops.

"Hey, Silence," the girl greeted as she squatted on the limb, "Sorry for being so late. I wanted to make sure Curse was okay."

"It's fine," Hinata replied as she eyed her young comrade before glancing back at the enemies below. The redhead girl was busy staring at Shia with an expression of… confusion? Familiarity?

"Holy shit!" said redhead aimed a finger at the masked preteen, "It's you!"

Shia squinted behind her mask then lifted it with a shocked look of her own. "It's you! Uh… Karin!"

Silence exchanged glances between the two with no small amount of confusion. It finally dawned on her that Shia used to be with the Sound, so it made sense that there might have been one or two familiar faces hanging around in the world. "You know each other?"

"That's Karin. She used to be on Garaza's team…"

Hinata directed her withheld shock at Karin. "Wait, you knew Garaza?!"

The redhead's eyes narrowed as she recalled those days. She had been stationed within the Konoha reconnaissance team at the behest of Orochimaru in order to sow the seeds of mistrust amongst those criminals. "You…" it hit her, "You're Silence! You're Silence, aren't you?!"

"The one and only!" A small amount of pride struck her and she tapped her armored chest.

But all good things come to an end, and this unusual reunion ended with Jugo launching himself at the treetop kunoichis with modified arms prepared to crush them. Hinata saw it coming and leaped away with time to spare while Shia planted both hands against the wood beneath her feet in preparation for a counter. The second the berserking boy was close enough, the young girl threw her hands at him and the branch splintered around her so the pieces could fly at Jugo like natural shrapnel. Said projectiles forced the monstrous individual to shield his front, allowing the disturbed girl to leap back into the diminishing flames and hide again.

Hinata landed on the ground and was greeted by Suigetsu's sword. She was quick enough to activate Yin and Yang's magnetic force and repel the blade, but the crass swordsman released the weapon when it became too much and landed a kick of unnatural strength against the Hyuuga. Silence was a strong girl, but in being female she was genetically predisposed to smaller muscles, whereas Suigetsu was not. The end result of the mighty blow was Hinata skidding across the ground into a tree with the wind knocked out of her. She took a desperate gulp of air and found the water based ninja following up his disarmed barrage with a muscled fist. Silence moved her head to the side the moment said fist plowed into the bark and she took the opportunity to land a blow no male could withstand.

She kicked him in the balls.

Suigetsu reacted appropriately by falling to his knees and receiving a powerful blow to the head that would have killed a lesser man. Of course for him it meant being scattered into droplets, but that still bought the blue-haired prodigy some time.

Hinata put some distance between her and the three assailants before turning to face their general direction. "_That Suigetsu guy's got a serious advantage with water,_" she knew, "_But if I time this right, I won't have to deal with it._" Moving her steel mask atop her head, she reeled back to perform the Water Explosion technique before her Byakugan sensed danger and she flattened to the ground. An instant later, a massive fireball passed mere inches over her prone body and singed more than a few hairs. "What the hell?!"

"Sorry Hinata!" Naruto flew through while unleashing ungodly numbers of weapons at a nearby Sasuke. Said Uchiha did a marvelous job of avoiding every bladed instrument… that he saw. The hails of steel projectiles flying at him from his blind spot weren't dodged so gracefully. At some point, the rogue ninja was forced to turn his eyes away from the real blonde in order to deal with the onslaught of copies, and that's when the Uzumaki saw his chance.

As Hinata scampered to her feet and replaced her mask, Curse brought his hands together in concentration and focused his chakra into a spiraling pattern. A breeze was kicked up behind him as the first of the Nine Tornados was initiated, and when the portable maelstrom licked the subsiding flames, the interaction caused the entire thing to become engulfed in renewed fire. It also resulted in a feminine yelp.

Shia dove from her cover as the flames were born anew and eyed the blonde through a smoking mask. "Damn it Curse!" the change in speech signified Aiya, "Warn me next time you do that!"

"Sorry!" he apologized without moving. By now the rogue Uchiha had noted the blazing tornado and was taking measures to counter it, but the blonde forced him to rush the decision by thrusting the still-spinning maelstrom at the enemy.

Sasuke swore under his breath. "_Shit, now I have to use a summon to escape…_" He prepared to slam his palm to the ground when something flew between him and the vertical twister of fire. "_Is that a… tree?_" He didn't wait to find out; the self-proclaimed avenger scrambled to safer ground before the doomed timber was rendered into ash.

For a moment there was peace; all parties present wondered how a tree decided to up and fling itself between two combatants.

"Did you see that?" Naruto whispered to Hinata.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Who did that?" Shia inquired in her lowest voice.

"Oh, zat vas a goot throw!"

All eyes turned to the sounds of casual applause to find two strangers who looked nothing alike. The one clapping wore snug leather clothes that looked comfortable and warm while the other wore nothing but frayed woolen pants and knee high combat boots. The noisy one was a plain man with lanky hair while his shirtless friend looked more like an animal with his fiery eyes and crimson hair that complemented the lifetime of scars trickling down his exposed torso.

"Zat iz Gaza for you," the normal one commented in an accent no one could place, "Alvays vas de strong vun."

"Who are you?" Curse asked with no humor whatsoever. These two bothered him more than he cared to admit.

"Ah," the plain man replied in a friendly manner, "Zat iz not important. Vhy don't hyu keeds stop fighting? Fighting iz not a goot zing, yah?"

Everyone tensed and regarded the odd duo with apprehensive curiosity when the harmless stranger spared several casual glances between Naruto and Sasuke.

"What do you want?" the Uchiha demanded in his usual cold tone. Something about that giant's blazing eyes and hair reminded him of one of the old Sound bases…

"Ah, forgive our forvardness, but ve are zimply doing our jobs. Vould hyu mind accompanying us to our destinations?"

Jugo shivered as his cursed cells overran his mind and he decided that he'd had enough. His arm mutated into a massive claw and plowed into the silent scarred stranger only to fly back in the opposite direction. Further observation revealed that his eight foot target hadn't budged an inch, save an outstretched fist.

Suigetsu followed up his massive teammate's attack by swinging his oversized sword into the leather clad newcomer, neatly bisecting the man through the stomach. "Ain't so tough," he mumbled, "Just the big guy- what?!" The water ninja yelped as he was flung into the air by a collection of scales that hadn't been there a second ago. Suigetsu eyed his supposedly slain target and couldn't believe that the man still stood.

Everyone's eyes were either wide or suspicious at the sight. The foreigner was indeed split in two, but he did not bleed. Rather, what would have been blood turned out to be a cavalcade of pale turquoise scales that stretched and flexed like a living entity. The two halves of the strange newcomer came together in a sickening squelch and the scales connecting them retracted into the sheared jacket but did not disappear.

"Ah," he inspected his ruined leather clothing, "Und I just bought this…" He eyed Suigetsu with benevolent eyes and laughed as he scratched the side of his head. "Ah, vell, ze next paycheck vill pay for a new vun."

Naruto decided to test this man's strange abilities by silently directing a clone to lob a man-sized shuriken at him. The copy obeyed and the huge throwing star sailed right through the guy at a diagonal angle. The Uzumaki squinted to obtain a clearer view of the wound and noted the strings of blood coagulate and harden into the pale green scales before pulling the stranger back together. "_Is that a bloodline? Or is it something else?_"

"Gaza," the man addressed his silent comrade, "It looks like ve'll hoff to go to plan B. Vhich vun do hyu vhant?"

The crimson eyed giant glared death at Sasuke in response to his talkative partner.

"Ah, zho ze Uchiha, zen? Goot choice, goot choice; hyu have a lot in common." He began unbuttoning his ruined jacket with a pained face. "Zen I vhill assist ze Uzumaki."

Hianta noted Shia's concern and nudged her intelligent counterpart. "Think we should only focus on this guy?"

"May as well," he whispered back, "We've actually seen some of this guy's abilities. The other one's a wild card."

The Hyuuga nodded in agreement. "Gotchya. That… makes…" Her words trailed off when the talkative stranger shed his tattered jacket to reveal his strange scaly appendages holding him together. There was no blood from the wounds, but the ropes of emerald scales writhed and flexed like a serpent preparing to strike. "Oh, that's just creepy…"

The battlefield exploded into chaos when all parties engaged one another. The Konoha ninjas attempted to concentrate on the scaly man but had a difficult time of it- the rogue Sound shinobi weren't so cooperative. Those four would attack anyone nearby who wasn't with them, and their recklessness got the two strangers involved in their partner's 'claim'.

Naruto jammed his modified ninjato into the ground and invoked another pillar of stone to whip around his challenger. The column of earth slammed into the benevolent attacker and flattened him into the ground with a force that would have blown apart a normal man. But the man's would-be blood turned to sharpened scales before it could even settle in the dirt and the new appendages did something new- they wrapped around the heavy stone and flung it away. The man's hand, now connected to the body by what appeared to be a snake from hell, jerked him from his prone position. The remainder of his legs stood and his body, now more scales than actual flesh, formed from the writhing tentacles of unnatural plates. He eyed the blonde with a pained expression befitting an old man about to extend a gentle lecture to a foolhardy child.

"Now vhat vas zat for? It vas quite messy, yah?" With a sudden bout of energy, the enemy leapt at Curse and his scaly appendages caught the boy's sword without effort before trapping Naruto in their sharp graceful grasp. "Zis iz vhy fighting iz not a goot thing. Violence only begets violence. Now come along…" With that, he began dragging the struggling genius away in lieu of a casual Sunday stroll.

Both Hinata and Shia rushed in to save the prodigy from his plight only to encounter the sentient tentacles of razor-sharp plates. The snaky arms flicked off the man's body and held everything thrown at them at bay. That is, until the Hyuuga's arm was captured and she send a jolt of electricity through her steel arm guard. She had wanted to avoid that, seeing as how the surge would transfer to her beloved, but now there was no choice in the matter.

"Yow!" The man shrieked and froze for the smallest of moments while every scale jutted outward in reaction to the contained lightning. Naruto also received a diluted dose of the attack along with hundreds of tiny cuts inflicted by the spastic razors holding him hostage, but the tentacles went slack and that was enough for his female companions to pull him free.

"Zat stung!" the stranger yelped when he calmed down. "I see zat zis job vill become more… troublesome zan I thought." He cracked his neck and eyed the trio with what looked to be a tiny bout of sorrow. "I suppose ze use of force really iz necessary," he sighed to himself, "Zomtimes my job saddens me…"

The three Konoha shinobi exchanged masked looks of worry and continued their assault on the man. As time went on, their unspoken coordination became better and better; between the three of them, they had all the elemental affinities covered. Naruto and Hinata would blast the attacker with all manners of fire, wind, water, and lightening while Shia would manipulate their advances with her peculiar seal work and provide backup with earthen techniques. All in all, it was a perfect offense in the making.

And it did nothing. The scaly man would not die- he took everything they dished out and it did nothing to deter his body from regenerating into the plated horror that he was. After being on the receiving end of several particularly nasty fire techniques, there was nothing left of his flesh; he was now a walking nightmare of writhing scaled tentacles that lashed out at everything that moved with the sole purpose of capturing it.

Hours went by as the trio did battle. Up until now, Naruto and Hinata had been holding back with the idea that they needed to conserve their strength for the inevitable battle within the Rain village. This is why they didn't obliterate Sasuke and his crew when they first found them. But now that every attack was falling flat, their mounting desperation became evident in the power of their moves. It was only after the Uzumaki unsuccessfully sliced the foreigner to shreds with the second stage of a modified Nine Tornados technique that they knew they were in trouble.

"This is bad," the blonde muttered as he skidded to a halt from his retreat from a wave of scales, "We just can't kill him."

The Hyuuga couldn't agree more, but something else was on her mind. "He's been easing us away from the others."

"Huh?"

"Don't tell me you didn't notice. Look around; where's Sasuke and his friends?"

Curse gave the horizon a quick scan and realized the older girl was correct- they had been moving. Before he could continue the conversation though, he was interrupted by a cavalcade of scales trying to rope him in. He slipped out of their grasp before they could tighten and received several scratches for his trouble. "You just don't quit, do you?!"

The writhing monstrosity before them cracked the equivalent of a smile and gave something of a pained look. "Vhy are hyu making zis zo hard on everyvun? Hyu already know zat hyu can't hurt me, but hyu won't even ask vhy I insist you come vit me." A block of stone shot up from the ground thanks to a trap seal set up by Shia and bashed him in the chin to no avail- his scaly figure reformed like nothing had happened. "Vorse yet, hyu are so quick to fight. Vhy? Hyu guys are just keeds, und fighting iz a terrible zhing…"

Silence decided to take the initiative and stayed her hand from another attack. "You and your partner have been leading us away from the others. Why?"

"Ho, zat iz zimple; ze Uchiha's destination iz different from ze Uzumaki's."

Naruto halted in mid stride and placed his hand on Shia's shoulder in a silent command to hold back. "And what's my 'destination'?"

"Vhy, ze Rain Village, of course."

The trio frowned and the blonde begged the obvious question: "Why?"

The strange man put his 'hand' to his 'chin' in thought, muttering and nodding in thought. "I suppose it vouldn't hurt to tell hyu. After all, once hyu are delivered, ze job is done…"

"Delivered to who?"

"Vell, ze job is for ze Rain Village, but ze Akatsuki commander iz ze vun who made ze order…"

The three glanced at each other in bewilderment. This stranger was trying to take them to their own destination by force? And what was all this about being delivered?

Hinata opened her mouth to voice these questions. "Do you work for the Akatsuki?"

He laughed like it was one of the best jokes he'd ever heard. "Of course not! Vhat do I look like, a freak?!"

"Poor choice of words, old man," Naruto spoke up, "If you're not with the Akatsuki, then who?"

The scaly man's smile degraded to a grin. "I couldn't answer zat even if I vanted to. Now come!" he turned to the direction of the Rain village, "Ve hoff places to go!"

"Why the hell would we trust you?" the blonde spat, his blade never once faltering from its hostile position, "We don't know a thing about you!"

"Und hyu never vill, if everything turns out vell."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hinata was righteously suspicious of this questionable hostile as well.

"Hyu already know I don't like violence und zat my job iz to take hyu to a place you want to go, zen why bother vit fighting? Hyu know hyu can't vin…" The scaly representation of his mouth parted in a smile.

"Curse," Shia whispered, "What do we do?"

The Uzumaki glanced at the preteen and noticed Hinata's hidden eyes telling him she'd go with his decision. After all, everything was centered on him. "What about these two? I'm sure the Akatsuki leader told you to bring me alone."

The freak of nature shrugged. "My boss never said anyzhing about zat to me. Besides, I see no problems. Now come vit me, or vill I hoff to drag hyu zhere?"

Curse eyed the man one final time and made up his mind after several seconds of deep consideration. "Alright, we'll come along. But make a move and so help me God…"

-----

Since the trio had fought for hours against their assailant while heading towards the Rain village, it was a short trek for the remainder of the way. The time was spent by the foursome in awkward conversation with the geniuses attempting to pry every little tidbit of information out of the man to no avail. When asked why the Uchiha was led elsewhere or who he was being delivered to, all the foreigner would say was, "Hyu von't hoff to vorry about zat." He downplayed these serious inquiries like they weren't even issues worth mention, and that made the Konoha ninjas worry.

When the rainclouds of the city in question appeared overhead, the Hyuuga leaned towards Curse and whispered her concerns. "Something about this guy's been bugging me for a while."

"Gee," he replied with no small amount of sarcasm, "What could it be?"

She slapped him on the shoulder and continued without taking her pale eyes off the stranger. "He never used any chakra during the entire fight."

The teen prodigy eyed his female counterpart through mirrored lenses. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

"Then what the hell could it be? Not even bloodlines work without chakra."

Hinata swallowed and put forth her observations. "I think it's genetic."

Naruto frowned; biology and the like had never been as high on his repertoire as it had Hinata's. "Explain."

"He never bleeds, right? I think those scales come from some kind of mutation in his blood whenever it comes into contact with oxygen."

The Uzumaki nodded while he considered that. "But he's gotta breath to survive…"

"And that's why I think it's artificial. Someone had to modify his body so he wouldn't suffocate under his own power."

"So you think someone _made_ this guy?"

Her head tilted in a nod. "That's what I think."

The blonde sighed hard. "Then let's hope there's not more like him…"

"Ve hoff arrived!" the stranger's voice interrupted the two as they stepped into a clearing.

Curse angled his blade at the man and his voice became dark. "And now you want to take us directly to the Akatsuki's leader, right?"

The scaled hostile frowned. "Since vhen did I say zhat? I merely stated zhat I vould bring hyu to ze Rain Village. Nozing more, nozing less."

"So…"

"Zo my job iz complete. Hyu are at ze Rain Village," a series of explosions rocked the landscape of towers behind him but did not surprise him in any way, "Und it looks like zhings are getting hot und heavy. Hyu may vhant to hurry…"

The Uzumaki regarded the man one last time then rushed forward to make his way to the source of the conflagration. Jiraiya must have been in there somewhere, and he would be damned if the old lech hogged all the glory or died trying. Shia hesitated, unsure of what to do before taking off after her replacement brother while Hinata followed up the rear. The Hyuuga halted before she was out of earshot of the stranger and she spared him one final glance.

"Thanks," she stated, her tone informing him that despite his benevolence, she would never trust him in this life or the next.

The scaly foreigner gave the impression of a smile. "Don't zhank me; zis vas a job. Next time, ve may not be on ze same side. Remember zat, young vun…"

Silence gave a curt nod before rushing off to catch up to her beloved, and when she disappeared from view the strange man turned and disappeared into the forest with a grin of a job well done.

As all became quiet save for the patter of rain, a figure stepped into the clearing from a path separate from that the prodigies took. The character eyed the city under siege and walked forward with great confidence in his stride, the many reminiscent stitches on his body flexing and squirming in preparation. Whoever this individual was, there was a job to be done in the Rain Village.

A job that neither Naruto nor Hinata could ignore should they know about it.

* * *

Who could this mysterious stranger be?!

Will Naruto and the gang reach Jiraiya in time?!

And who could these people who _don't_ work for the Akatsuki actually work for?!

I had initially intended for this chapter to be muuuuuuuch longer. Like Naruto and Hinata finishing up their business and leaving the Rain village. But alas, there was much work in reality to be done...

I came to a realization not too long ago. After giving a brief glance over previous chapters, I've realized that I have been spending WAY too much time during fight sequences. While some parts turned out well (one reviewer commented on how kickass Hinata's escape from the Suna tunnels was), I generally feel that much of it just dragged out for no good reason.

Thus, from here on out, I'll try to keep fight sequences long enough to be interesting and revealing but short enough to just get on with it. I'm sure you guys'll agree to this, but do you like this way of thinking?

On a side note, one of the things that I've had to work on (mandatory for my writing class... sort of) was a story of my own. My own original piece of fiction. In fact, I'll probably have to forgo working on this fic until mid-December in order to finish my story in time to turn it in.

Actually, I'm pretty into the dang thing. Once it's been worked over and revised God knows how many times, would you guys care to take a gander at it? Mind you, it's _not_ fan fiction, but it would allow you to see what this author could do when left up to his own devices...

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! Don't drink and drive. Wouldn't wanna lose any of you out there...


	39. Break out the needle! Time for the Pain!

First off, I'd like to apologize for the amount of time it took me to write such a short chapter. There were plenty of things holding me back even though I had more than enough time.

To put it simply, I've been dreading the battle with Pain (at least this portion of it). It's _impossible_ to write a fight sequence with... let's see... 11 participants!

But, like they say, the show must go on!

* * *

The battle with Pain had not been kind to the aged Toad sage. Jiraiya had suffered the loss of his left arm on top of many internal injuries. The multiple bodies of his enemy had overwhelmed him in his most powerful state, and he currently lied as still as possible within his defensive barrier. His mind was cloudy from the blood loss and his remaining arm shook every time he raised it- he could feel the end coming, and it took every ounce of willpower for him to fight to the last breath. As his lungs heaved for more copper-tainted air, he felt one of the hostile bodies lunge through his barrier with weapon extended. His arm flew to the forefront in reaction, but he knew that irregular spear would impale him before he could do anything about it.

However, his role in his own protection was unnecessary. The unusual weapon halted short of his torso while its owner crashed to the ground with a blur of figures bearing into it. Jiraiya focused and saw techniques of every element boring into his attacker. The corpse's eyes flared from the flames burning in its skull while its hair twisted in the wind slicing through deceased flesh. Water oozed from every pore and sparked as it came into contact with the ground, and spikes of jagged granite jutted through the skin to ensure the victim's demise. After a mere three seconds, the corpse was destroyed in almost every way possible as far as the elements were concerned.

The aging Sannin blinked several times to confirm the sight. It took a panicked voice to break him from his stupor.

"Jiraiya!" Naruto's voice rang out as said blonde whipped off his mask, "Are you alive?!"

"N-Naruto?" his voice choked, "That you?"

Hinata rushed to the old man through the barrier as she also removed her steel visage. Her eyes shifted as her bloodline activated and she began checking the broken man's vitals. "Crap, what happened to your arm?" she whispered to no one as she sparked her arm to heat it up and cauterize the wound.

"Hyuuga…?" He barely registered the girl- she looked so different in that bizarre armor. He felt Fukasaku and Shima rustle on his shoulders and turned to them respectively.

"Who is this girl, Jiraiya?" the male toad croaked, "Don't tell me you've stooped to cradle robbin'?!"

"Shut it, Pa!" the aged frog's wife retorted, "Lookit' her eyes- she's a Hyuuga! She's from Konoha!"

Jiraiya ignored the bickering duo and tried to speak, yelping when Hinata planted a burning palm against the bloody stump of his left arm and sealed the wound in one motion. "Why are you here? I thought you were going after Itachi…"

"Something came up," the blonde replied with great haste as he lifted the shell of what was once Pain's summoning body. "Who's this guy?"

"That's…" He halted his explanation when the body's headband clattered to the ground to reveal an ancient scar in its place. Memories of days gone by flooded back to him and he realized who the man was- an old adversary from the Fuuma clan that attacked him when he first set out on his lifelong journey. "_Wait, that can't be Nagato!_" His eyes darted to his current pupil then found the stranger of the group- a strange masked figure standing behind the Uzumaki. He tensed, unsure if it was an ally of Pain or not.

He relaxed after a moment when the unknown person removed her mask- it was the brown-haired girl who helped Naruto through his misery when he and the Hyuuga were having relationship problems. Said girl followed the blonde's requests with a mixture of obedience and admiration as she broke off from the group to scout the area. When a minute passed, the aging shinobi shook himself back to reality and addressed Shima while ignoring Naruto's subdued impatience. "Could you get this body back to Konoha?"

"You got it, kiddo," the old frog croaked as she leapt off the Sannin's shoulder and onto the fresh corpse. She regarded everyone present as she prepared to puff away with the organic loot. "Take care of yourself, Jiraiya."

He grinned with obvious effort and gave her a thumbs up. Fukasaku spoke up before his wife disappeared. "Don't you worry, Ma- little Jiraiya and I'll be home before dinner!" With that, Shima vanished with the truly dead enemy in a puff of smoke.

The following minutes brought Hinata helping Jiraiya to his feet and forcing several compounds- both solid and liquid- down his throat. Shortly after, the old ninja felt somewhat better, if a little worse for wear. The toad master wondered how the young Hyuuga got so good- not even Tsunade was capable of making him feel this physically relieved after sustaining so many injuries. "_I really underestimated these two. Maybe there's a chance we can beat Pain now…_" He paused, recalling his recent battle with the multiple hostiles. "_But I doubt all four of us can walk away unscathed. If worse comes to worse…_" his tired eyes glanced over the young trio, "_It's not gonna be me. I'd rather die than let one of them fall in my place._"

"Jiraiya," Silence stated her superior's name without the standard honorific- either a sign of rushed desperation or acknowledgment as an equal, "What can you tell us about the enemy?"

The aging toad master relayed what little he'd learned about Pain to the duo- how he'd defeated the first three with the help of a little frog genjutsu, the resurrection of said trio, and all the abilities he had witnessed. By the end of his explanation, all three of his saviors had wide eyes and varying levels of gaping mouths.

"Well," he coughed up a little blood, "I'm out of ideas. You guys have anything to offer?"

Both thought for a moment before the Uzumaki broke the silence by turning to Hinata. "This place has a lot of water, and you've got that chakra crystal," he tapped Yin and Yang with his knuckle, "So it might be better if you use large-scale techniques. Shia and I will work around whatever you throw out to fill in the gaps."

Jiraiya scrunched up his face- he thought there'd be more to their preparations. "You call that a plan? You guys are just winging it…"

The blonde ninja waved the concern away. "Don't worry about it- we're good at improvisation."

"Besides," the Hyuuga added, "We've been seeing a lot of things no one can plan for lately. At least this time we have intel."

"Indeed you do," a foreign voice interrupted, "But what good shall it do?"

All eyes cut to the voice to find not one, but five newcomers. Standing resolute and silent as statues, the remaining bodies of Pain regarded the Konoha ninjas with cold Rinnegan eyes.

Jiraiya was the first to move- he knew of the dangers affiliated with close quarters combat on this battleground. But as he scaled the nearest cover, he was surprised to find his student and company doing exactly the opposite of what he considered tactful.

They were charging straight into the fray with weapons drawn.

Hinata flicked her oversized spear into gear with a single motion and fed electricity to the shaft before gracing the water's edge. In that instant, the lake sparkled with a charge and cleared the immediate area, seeing as how all combatants present knew the foolhardiness of standing on charged water.

Naruto sailed through the air as the Hyuuga prepared her next attack, unsealing a man-sized shuriken to fling at his target- the fat Pain. "_Jiraiya said this one absorbs any technique, so I'm betting physical attacks work…_" The overweight enemy dodged the incoming weapon with ease but failed to notice the explosive tags dotting the underside of the ninja star. The airborne metal passed the man, exploded, and shot a chunk through the hostile's hand to sever all but his thumb. The Uzumaki noted the success and thought he felt his lips curl into a grin, but he was too busy dealing with an instantaneous counterattack led by the enemy with long hair.

Meanwhile, Hinata had moved from her battlefield of ionized waves onto a massive dislodged pipe that served as a walkway between piles of rubble. She watched with Byakugan eyes as every hostile kept their strange eyes glued to them, affirming Jiraiya's claim that they shared the same vision. "_We just have to make them look away. Isolate one so we can take them down…_" An idea popped into her head and she halted in a defensive stance to put her plan in motion. Her hands whizzed through the needed seals and, as the waves below churned into a magnificent wave, she placed a palm on her energy weapon.

The electrified tsunami didn't affect any of Pain's bodies, but it attracted their attention and forced them from their positions. The Hyuuga, possessing sight that could penetrate anything, noted enemy movements through the violent waters in search of a viable target. "_Come one…_" she whined as the maelstrom subsided, "_There's gotta be one… there!_"

She found her victim and clamped her finger around the trigger as the waters lost their force. With a steady arm, she raised her vibrating weapon at the enemy with spiked ear piercings and bit her lip in her timing. The hostile was the only one looking at her, and his eyes were currently clouded by the last of the wave. Hinata's hand shook as her weapon boiled and convulsed, and the instant she saw the man's eyes she released the trigger. The enemy didn't have a chance- his head disintegrated with the blinding blast, but Silence dropped her weapon and clamped her aching hand. "Fuck," she swore aloud, "I overheated it too much…" A quick glance with an active bloodline told her that her futuristic weapon had fired its last if repairs weren't made soon. "_Next time I use it, it'll be a bomb._"

The sudden elimination of yet another body attracted Pain's attention, and he retaliated by sending the bald body at the Hyuuga. The girl did what she could against the man by sliding into her family's stances while keeping her distance with her lengthy spear. After a few eternal seconds, the newest adversary deemed it necessary to change tactics and shifted into an entirely new creature before Silence's pale wide eyes.

"_What is that?_" she wondered in subdued admiration of the bald man's extra faces and emerging mechanical enhancements. But something about the machinery imbedded within the body was disturbingly familiar… "_It reminds me of… of that Mosh-mosh guy from the Sound army!_" A few projectiles were launched at her and she barely got out of the way in time, only to come face-to-face with the same man who had leapt after her through the fray. "_Shit!_" She tried to swing her heavy weapon between them, but the newly grown arms of the mechanical freak halted its movement as the other limbs moved in for the kill…

Or so it seemed. In the blink of an eye, Shia appeared from the abyss and landed on the assailant's head. Her engraved claws dug at the man's numerous eyes but didn't seem to have any effect, if the serrated tail rising behind the young girl was any indication.

"Shia!" the Byakugan user cried, prompting the girl to turn around and yelp as the thin blade plunged forward. Nothing came of it though, as Shia was nabbed by the scruff of the neck and launched into the air an instant before she could be skewered. In her place, Naruto shimmered from an artificial wind and, with his free hand, slammed a basic Rasengan into the man's head.

The body crashed to the ground and twitched before the blonde formed a second swirling ball- this one smoking from an unseen fire imbued within the center- and buried it in the enemy's midsection. Cloth disintegrated in the blink of an eye and the metal frame of the hostile softened and liquefied under the blazing pressure until a decent gaping hole melted its way to the ground.

Curse was followed in his timed attack by the long-haired freak as well as the disfigured fat one. He had heard Hinata's cry for Shia and temporarily abandoned his battle with the others to save the girl, and now it was back to bite him in the ass.

The slim hostile fell at him from the sky while the obese freak ran at him on the ground. Naruto's adrenaline-soaked mind slowed things down in his eyes, and he saw that both enemies carried these bizarre weapons that resembled broken shafts of rebar rather than spears. In response, he flung out both arms to his sides, unsealed a quartet of custom three-pronged blades from his chained bracelets, and lobbed two of them at the fat one before charging forward with the remaining knives. The target of the unique projectiles had no problem knocking the blades away with his spear, but when the overweight ninja reeled back to drive his weapon into the approaching Uzumaki, the blonde leapt, utilized his face as a stepping stone, and went airborne to intercept the thin man.

As the gravity-defiant battle commenced between the Konoha ninjas and the remnant of Pain's bodies, the former corpse once known as Yahiko- Pain's preferred vessel- stood atop a squat structure near the water's edge in passive observance. The man had his orders from the top- capture Naruto Uzumaki at all costs- but something was off. The fact that the blonde boy was putting up such a fight didn't surprise him- nothing really did- but the presence of the Hyuuga female as well as the familiar brown-haired girl was curious enough to make him stop and watch from afar.

Konan finally made her way to the scene and stood next to Pain without a word. She wondered why her comrade refused to enter the fray, but before she could ask, she frowned in recognition at the youngest ninja dancing through the sky of ninja stars. "Pain," her voice was level like it always was, "Is that girl who I think it is?"

He said nothing as he thought back to days gone by. "Yes. It appears the last of the 'split minds' has returned home."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"Nothing. Kuran was unable to perfect his family's One Soul seal, so his younger sister could not possibly…" He stopped and looked off to the side.

Konan could sense something was up; she had spent too much time with her comrade to not pick up on his stoic mannerisms. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. An intruder has been spotted near the tower."

"_The_ tower? The one where you are, Nagato?"

He glanced at her with cold ringed eyes. "Yes, but the guards are taking care of it. It's nothing."

----

When the battle wound down and left the Konoha trio victorious, it was not without a price. While the first two enemies had gone down with little effort, the others seemed to gain the strength of the fallen and fight with renewed vigor. This led to the conclave within the forest of towers riddled with burns and scorches, and endless rows and layers of weapons had all but exhausted the Uzumaki's supply of sealed armaments. The teen himself was not as winded as his teammates, but then again he had the advantage as far as chakra was concerned.

When the dust and waters settled, Hinata searched the area with her superior vision to find Pain and some woman watching the aftermath from a low lying atoll. She focused and found Jiraiya's whereabouts. "_Good one, Jiraiya…_" Deciding to give the old man the time he needed, she shouted across the distance.

"You're 'Pain', right?!"

"I am," his quiet response was barely audible.

"Where did you get this guy?!" She kicked the side of the bald hostile's head with her steel boot, eliciting a metallic ring. "He's too high tech!"

Nothing for a moment. "He is but one of my forms."

Silence rolled her eyes and Curse intervened. "What a load! You expect us to believe you're more than one guy?!"

"A god has no need to explain his actions."

The blonde cocked an eyebrow. "Great, another nut," he muttered, "Don't lie! You found this guy or built him or…!"

"It is true," Pain interrupted, "How else could such a technical marvel come into being?"

Hinata frowned in thought; Mosh-mosh, in his own right, was a technical marvel as well. Then there was the Shadow man who butchered the secret Sound army so many years ago, and what about the strange surgeon and that pale man in the suit who infiltrated her lab through a ball of light? And then there were those strangers who attacked Tsunade and Jiraiya and everyone else who was involved in the ring of conspiracies beneath Konoha. "_And the Akatsuki's still got the only other Sharingan we know of. This has got to be more than coincidence._"

Before Naruto could prolong his tirade, the Hyuuga spoke up in his place. She remembered what they sought in the first place as well as their ultimate reason for doing so. "What is the Omega Project?!"

For once, Pain seemed to be rendered speechless.

Hinata continued. "I know this guy isn't yours," she kicked the mechanical marvel's inanimate head, "We know several people like this, and none of them have anything to do with you! So whoever or whatever this thing is, it's related to the Omega Project, and you're the only organization around that still has secrets!"

Another moment of silence passed. "I concede," Pain dipped his head, "It is true that one of my forms was not of my own doing. But because of the man he once was, I would not have known of the one who possessed the weapon."

"So the Omega Project _is_ a weapon!"

"I have never heard of this 'Omega Project' you speak of, but the weapon belonging to this organization is not of our making. Of this much, you can be certain."

Naruto snorted; something didn't feel right. "Why are you telling this to us?! We're enemies!"

The pierced man closed his eyes in reflection. "There is no need to hide secrets from those who will perish soon."

And with that phrase, Jiraiya burst from the waters behind Pain with Hinata's discarded energy weapon in hand. He aimed the device at his former student and, mirroring the Hyuuga's movements, pulled the trigger to build up the charge.

Pain responded by swiveling on his heel and releasing a blast that repelled the Sannin. But when the toad master hit a distant pipe, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"_A replacement…_" Pain's stoic mind registered the move before he turned around again to find another Jiraiya- the real one- standing before him with the glowing weapon.

"_Thanks for the distraction, Hinata,_" the elderly ninja silently thanked the Hyuuga for filling the air with inane chatter while he snuck up behind Pain. He knew from his previous battle with this particular body that an initial attack would fail without the element of surprise. His only other option was to force Pain to use his technique and follow up with another near simultaneous attack. He had watched Hinata use this strange weapon and noted the time it took to build up power before discharging, so he knew he could kill Pain before the man had enough time to replenish his strange technique. His finger remained on the trigger as the tool vibrated to unbearable heat, and another millisecond would pass before his former pupil's head melted in a blast wave…

But it never happened; the weapon continued to charge and spark in a violent rumble when Pain's power activated once again. In another blast, the renowned toad hermit went flying with the failing energy weapon still in hand, aware that something was wrong with the device despite his ignorance of its inner workings.

"Jiraiya!" Hinata called, horrified that the old man had picked up her weapon without realizing its volatile state, "Throw it away! Now!!"

Jiraiya's sharp mind concluded that the Hyuuga's statement meant an explosion or some kind of backfire that required distance for safety would take place. Without question, he lobbed the failing device at Pain before his remaining hand went numb from the heat.

The lack of feeling was the last thing he registered in life.

Pain's power had regenerated once again and allowed him to fling the ordinance back at his old teacher before the device exploded in a brilliant flash of color and simmering heat. In an instant, Jiraiya was consumed by the conflagration before his singed corpse fell into the bottomless sea and sank beneath the waves.

Hinata couldn't believe it; Jiraiya was dead. Just like that. There was no grand battle, no climax in the fight of a lifetime. He made a mistake and it backfired- the simplest notion on earth. She blinked and turned to Naruto alongside Shia.

The Uzumaki stood still while watching the disturbed waves. There were no tears in his eyes, no sadness- only disbelief. "Jiraiya…" he muttered under his breath, reality taking its time to sink in. But when it did, his azure eyes scrunched into anger and he glared at Pain with fiery rage. "You!" he shouted as he took up his custom ninjato, "This is your fault!" He ran at the man without thinking, his movements fueled more by emotion and unconscious training rather than logic. The old hermit was the closest thing to a father he'd ever had, and the loss of the man enraged his soul into demanding blood.

The Hyuuga and Shia ran after the blonde to assist against Pain and the woman who apparently utilized paper in creatively lethal ways. What followed was a battle that, despite the Konoha ninjas' mild fatigue, surpassed the previous. Naruto reused almost every weapon he'd expelled mere minutes ago, and the air was filled with fire and water and dust and steel. Paper was burned, soaked, and sliced into shrapnel while liquid fire and airborne waves crushed concrete into dust.

The fighting took place beneath the endless waves as well as on their surface. Combatants danced around chakra and iron up the sides of never ending obelisks, and rooftops caved under the pressure of forces not foreseen in their architecture. The sky changed color several times as flames and lightning stretched into the eternal clouds, and rain was turned to ice and poison and came from all sides, but a simple glare of the Rinnegan repelled all like flowers in a maelstrom.

This contained war continued on for either minutes or hours- time stood still for its participants. Every time the blonde genius neared Pain and struck, his blade came closer. Even the almighty Rinnegan could see that this boy was learning the limitations of a self-proclaimed god. It was only a matter of time until the Uzumaki exacted his revenge.

And such vengeance came when Naruto finally caught Pain off guard and thrust his ninjato into the man's spine from behind. Although the boy's anger was still hot and his sadness profound, the sight of Pain's pierced body gave him the smallest degree of comfort.

But the blonde couldn't rest; the enemy's body burst into a cavalcade of paper. "_A replacement!_" Curse realized his blind spot and whipped around in place to find his target ready to plunge several sharpened rods into his body. "_I can't counter all of them in time!_"

However, the strikes never came. Before Naruto could even blink, an auburn blur flashed before his eyes and his face was splattered with warm liquid. He glanced down to find the spears' tips dripping with dark crimson as they protruded from his savior's back.

"Shia!" he cried when it hit him what had happened- Shia had placed herself in harm's way and took the mortal blows meant for him. He thrust his sword around the impaled girl in retaliation, but Pain simply leapt to safety well away from the duo as the Uzumaki cradled the girl and put distance between them.

When Naruto's panicked mind thought he was safe enough, he laid Shia on the cold ground, oblivious to Hinata's attentiveness. "Shia!" He stumbled, wanting to say more but finding no words to convey his shock.

The young girl coughed up a slew of blood but smiled at the blonde nonetheless. "Curse," her voice was weak, "Are you okay?"

He hovered over her with tears in his eyes- Jiraiya hadn't passed on for but an hour, and now it was Shia's turn to perish? He couldn't believe it- he didn't want to. "I-I'm fine," he sputtered, his mind moving a mile a minute. "Don't talk, save your energy."

"It's… fine," she countered as dark blood snaked from the corners of her lips, "This is it… for me." As her words left her mouth, she gave Silence the briefest of glances and saw the desperation in the older girl's eyes- evidence that there was nothing the Hyuuga could do.

"You'll make it," the blonde moved his shaky fingers through the girl's hair, "H-Hinata'll heal you good as new, right Hinata? She'll be fine, right?" It was an arbitrary question- he was repeating himself, a telltale sign that even he knew the end was nigh.

Hinata locked eyes with Naruto but said nothing. Her Byakugan saw that almost every vital organ was pierced- Shia would bleed out long before any patches could be applied in the necessary places. The Hyuuga knew that her place in this scenario was to be silent and allow Naruto and Shia their final farewells since she could do no else.

Curse saw the resignation in Silence's eyes and it confirmed his fears. In the back of his head he knew this wouldn't end the way he wanted, but he was desperate. Fully aware of Shia's limited time, he turned back to the dying girl's smiling face and started crying. He couldn't help it.

Shia's breathing calmed as she raised weak hands to the blonde's cheek. "Please don't cry," her smile never left as she stroked the boy's face, "It doesn't… hurt anymore. I just feel… tired."

Naruto swallowed another onslaught of tears, took the palms caressing his cheeks, and gently removed the intricate steel claws to reveal the warm fingers underneath. The feel of her skin reminded him of every moment he spent with her, and every frustration that he'd ever had with her melted away.

He remembered how she'd become a part of his life as much as Hinata had, and every memory, both good and bad, rushed back to remind him how important she was. He recalled her smiles and laughter as vividly as her tears and sadness. He remembered pulling her from the pit of despair as well as her comfort during his own time of need. She met his greatest secret with a smile, forgave him when he broke her heart, and stayed with him without hesitation when he could offer nothing in return. Now that she was about to be lost to the afterlife, he understood how much he treasured her, how much he cared for her.

How much he loved her.

"Shia," he placed his forehead against hers, his tears dropping onto her face, "I… I don't want to lose you too…"

The dying girl said nothing as she curled her hands around the blonde's head and lowered him into a kiss. Everything tasted like copper, but to her it was the sweetest thing she'd ever experienced. When she released him, she gazed at him with blurring eyes. "I'll always love you… Naruto…"

Despite his sadness, the Uzumaki blinked; this was the first time Shia had ever addressed him by name. He couldn't explain it, but that act alone took some of the sting out of the moment while swelling it with grief all at once. "I'll always love you too, Shia. I'll never forget you…"

She smiled one last time. "And I'll… always be watching… over you… brother…" And with that, her eyes fluttered shut. A second passed, and before Naruto's tears could renew, her eyes opened again.

"Ah… almost forgot…" the young girl stated with heavy breath.

"A-Aiya!" Naruto recognized those angled eyes, "Y-you're not dead!"

"Don't be… stupid…" her personality remained indignant as always, "I'm following Shia. She just… forgot something…"

The blonde frowned but didn't let his puzzlement get in the way of the extra seconds given to him to say goodbye. "What is it?"

She raised her weak hand and planted her index finger on his chest. "It's a… gift… of One Soul…" The last of her chakra made its way through the appendage and burned into Naruto's flesh, creating a pattern as Aiya's digit moved with deliberation. After a few seconds, her hand crashed to the ground in exhaustion and she sighed. "There, got it…"

The blonde examined the scar for a moment- it was a simple tattoo carved into his chest. He had no idea of its purpose, but it mattered little. "Aiya," he turned to the second personality to say his final farewell before being cut off.

"You'll need… these…" she nudged her ornate claws at him, "Wear them when… the seal's active. It… won't work otherwise."

"Aiya…" his eyes felt heavy with more moisture- saying goodbye once was hard enough, but now he had to say it twice to what amounted to the same person. "I love you…"

Aiya's lips curved into a subdued smile and she reached for the blonde's face. "I do too." She couldn't quite reach, but when Curse guessed what she wanted, she stole a kiss as well. When she broke the intimate gesture, she continued. "Thanks for… being there for me…"

The Uzumaki couldn't trust his voice and nodded as he choked and hugged the girl on the ground.

"Silence," Aiya addressed Hinata verbally- she couldn't see anything anymore, "Take care… of Naruto for me…"

The Hyuuga nodded as she ran her cool palm over the dying girl's forehead. "I promise, Aiya."

The alternate mindset smiled for the final time and closed her malfunctioning eyes. Naruto felt the slowing movement and raised himself to find her face serene.

"Ah…" Aiya whispered to no one in particular as her chest rose for its finale, "Free at last…"

And with that, Aiya departed from the mortal plane.

Seconds felt like hours and minutes felt like eternity itself as Hinata scooted to Naruto's side and embraced him. The Hyuuga rocked back and forth as one would with a child while the Uzumaki clenched his teeth and wept through closed eyes. No one said anything for a while, and the silence was filled with the lonely sounds of the blonde's choked cries. Silence knew they didn't have much time before Pain located them and that they should be keeping an eye out for him, but the near simultaneous loss of Jiraiya and Shia was enough to humble her. "_And if even I'm sad, I can't even imagine what it's like for Naruto._"

Sure enough, a familiar presence landed behind them and was followed by a monotone voice. "I see you understand true pain," the head of the Akatsuki spoke, "This is one thing everyone has in common. It is a terrible thing, yet it helps us grow and mature…"

Curse didn't listening to Pain's lecture- he could hear the man speaking, but everything was disregarded. Instead, the blonde stood to his feet while cradling Shia's corpse, walked to the edge of the platform where concrete met endless water, then placed the girl's body on the surface with the utmost care. "I can't give you a burial back home," he spoke to no one in particular, "But at least you'll go where no one else can." He relinquished his hold on her body and placed a final kiss on her forehead before Shia sank beneath the waves.

He then turned to Pain and slowly donned the last reminder of his adoptive sister- the claws embroidered with her personal seals. As the warm steel slipped over his fingers, the extra grooves in the interiors of the weapons did little to alleviate the fresh agony of losing their creator. When Naruto completed the task, he stood opposite Pain and regarded him with blank eyes- the only kind of emotion he could muster for now. "Hinata."

"Yes?"

"Take care of that paper woman. I'll take him."

The Hyuuga gazed at the Uzumaki with soft eyes before activating her bloodline to find Pain's ally. She knew fighting such dangerous individuals one on one was foolhardy, but she felt that nothing was more appropriate given how much the blonde went through in the last hour. "_This is something he needs to do, no matter what happens…_"

As Silence leapt into the vertical maze of buildings for Konan, Naruto sought out the new seal's presence within his body. It didn't take long to find it, and the moment he did, he began feeding his bottomless chakra into it.

"Pain," he stated in a raspy tone as his body began to change, "You better pray you're a god."

The man's Rinnegan eyes narrowed. "And why is that, Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Because only a god could survive what I'm about to do to you."

-----

Deep within the confines of Naruto's soul, the nine-tailed fox rattled its cage with all its might, shrieking with every breath its massive lungs could handle. "**What have you done, you fool?!**" it screamed as infinite rows of light threading around its body dug into its flesh as well as the silent and sullen Uzumaki before the cell's bars, "**Do you know what this is?!**"

The prison shook with the force of a thousand earthquakes as the fox struggled against the ephemeral coils. But for all its strength, the monster couldn't do it. The simple mark carved into its host's chest burned its way into its forehead before doing the same to Naruto. "**I can't believe that damn girl did it! I can't believe you **_**let**_** her!**"

In the back of its mind, the ancient entity knew the blonde was too depressed and angry to argue. In a way, its age-old psyche knew that there was nothing it could do to prevent these endless ropes of light from connecting its body to that of its vessel, but that did nothing to silence the demon's curses before its mouth was swallowed up. "**Don't you do it, boy! Don't you **_**dare**_** do it!!**"

Seconds later, the chamber was aglow with the illumination of a million suns, and nothing could drown out the fox's roar before it disappeared.

* * *

I'm still not really satisfied with the actual fighting in this chapter, and I don't think I'll ever be. Glad it's over and out of the way.

This chapter's unusually short for two reasons:

1. I always intended Shia's death to take place at the end of a chapter in order to give her death significance. If I'd have kept going, her passing wouldn't seem so important amidst the asskicking Naruto's about to pull off.

2. I wanted this upcoming fight (Naruto with Shia's final 'gift' versus Pain) to be a chapter all its own. Having its own chapter would give it an extra amount of unconscious significance in ways similar to Shia dying at the end of a chapter.

And now for some good news!

This fight is the final one in terms of canon characters... er, well, sort of. Let me put it this way: this is the second to last arc of the story. Once the Rain Village segment is complete, it's on to all the mysteries I've (hopefully) built up since chapter 3 (I think it's chapter 3...).

And to be honest, I'm really looking forward to writing this new stuff. So now that all the boring crap's outta the way, I'm motivated again! Yay...

Now, this is where I ask you- the reader- to leave a review regarding an OC, specifically Shia. Even if you don't review stories on principle, I ask that you at least review this one time. Let me know how I did with her! Tell me what you liked about Shia, what you didn't like, what worked on her as a character, what didn't, consistencies, inconsistencies, etc... (you get the idea)

I ask that you be as specific and critical as you can be should you submit a review! In other words, don't just say 'she rocked!!1' or 'she sucked!!1!' Tell me exactly _why_ you think that!

Catch ya'll later.


	40. a human, a demon, a god, and what else?

Wow. Once again, I have taken forever to update. Sorry 'bout that.

Summer school starts up on Monday for me, and I have to move to another apartment next week as well (fourth apartment in 3 years! Hell Yeah...). You can just imagine how much I look forward to it.

Coupla' things, though. First off...

NaruHina fans: 1 || NaruSaku fans: 0

That memorable chapter came out since my last update (I think). It was kinda funny- the forum I browse for spoilers during the week was crammed with NaruSaku fans and NaruHina haters cheering the week after Hinata 'died', only for them to crawl back down their holes when it was revealed that she lived. It was funny...

Secondly, I turned 21 over a week ago! I'm already regretting alcohol... (sweet liquor, how you hurt in the morning...)

Lastly... uh... nothing. Enjoy!

* * *

The afternoon sun descended into the horizon, its luminescence diluted by the dissipating rainclouds hovering over the Rain village. Its scant rays plastered the desolate city in light so often lost in the downpour, and the many towers of the landscape rippled within the contrast of warm glows and cool shadows. What little of the brilliant star that was visible could be called beautiful- a magnificent omen to the end of another day.

But no one was looking, and the sinking sun also heralded the end of more life.

Two figures stood opposite each other within a clearing of wreckage, steel rebar and arching obelisks replacing the grassy knolls and ancient trees of Konoha. Pain loomed over a squat bunker that survived the onslaught, and the endless waters around his raised concrete island churned against the submerged platform upon which the Uzumaki resided. The self-proclaimed deity stared ahead with cold lifeless eyes as the boy before him stated threats and made nary a sound. He was prepared and certain that nothing this blonde child ever did could result in anything other than failure. To be sure, the boy stood a chance against this singular body, but then what? Pain was everlasting; how could a mortal, no matter his strength, hope to defeat a concept, much less a god?

As Pain waited with patience unmatched, Naruto felt his body burn from within. His chakra trickled into the foreign presence of Shia's seal, and his fingers tingled with a numbing sensation as his chest grew heavy. Seconds passed, and he could no longer feel his hands; he glanced down to find the embroidered steel dressing his fingers glowing and smoking. When he realized this was from an impossible heat, he lurched forward as his innards were consumed by unseen fires. "_Strange,_" he thought before his mind became a tumultuous mess, "_It doesn't hurt that much._"

No sooner had that notion passed than a wave of sensations hit him. His body convulsed with increasing violence, and every possible emotion- sadness, confusion, love, anger- slammed into his brain like a thousand blades. It took every ounce of concentration to remain on his feet, staggering in place to stay upright. The fact that the weight of the universe bore down on his shoulders helped none.

His cheeks felt like they were being carved with a million dulled daggers, and it might have been true. He felt his face with clawed fingers and brought his hands back to reveal blood that boiled and evaporated on both the steel weapons and his skin. His chest heaved with labored breathing and his face felt like it was being pulled forward while his skull backward. He squinted and twitched his eyes- it felt like all the moisture had dried into molten lava. Leaning forward to view himself from the water's surface, he noticed blood dripping from under his eyelids and sizzle as they fell into the steaming liquid. No sooner had he seen himself than the waters at his feet bubbled away under the wave of heat that washed over him.

As the shallow waters evaporated, the feeling of indescribable heaviness lifted and he felt… empty. His appearance no longer mattered to his transformed mind, and, try as he might, he was incapable of feeling more than one thing at a time. He straightened and faced his enemy, and his features hardened into simple raw conviction.

Pain looked on with mute interest at the boy standing before him. The Uzumaki had changed little in overall appearance, but what few transformations that took place drastically altered the boy's persona.

Naruto now stood with sunny hair that floated in the breezeless wind with a mind of its own. His crimson pupils were surrounded by veins so bloodshot they appeared to be floating in a sea of pulsing crimson, and the previously unpronounced whisker birthmarks had grown and etched themselves deep within his cheeks, closing the gaps with coagulated blood. The smoke gurgling from his lips suggested changes from within, but to any unaware individual it was a sign of something demonic. But even as different as these features were from those of a man, there was an unmistakably human emotion drilled in the blonde's eyes- something even Pain could recognize given his 'divinity'.

Hate.

Pure, unadulterated, mature hatred; rage so deep that it transcended the heat of passion and cooled into the hardest steel.

"I see that pain has helped you grow," the bearer of the Rinnegan stated.

Curse remained motionless and silent for a moment before opening his smoking mouth and releasing a blast of liquid fire that almost engulfed Pain. Only the Akatsuki leader's power saved the man, and even then he had to rush out of the way before the continuous salvo overcame his ability. The vertical pillar of flame drenched the base of a tower in the distance and rendered it slag within seconds. The foundation buckled and its structure succumbed to gravity, the topmost floor being just high enough to reach the blonde in its descent.

Pain watched with blank eyes as the tower collapsed on his target and felt a twinge of relief when the dust cleared to reveal his quarry safe. He made no note of the fact that the Uzumaki's outstretched hand had caught the building before it crushed him, but Pain wasn't one to be surprised by any show of strength.

"It seems you have tapped into more of the fox's power, but tell me, why does it not cloud your mind?"

Naruto glared at his enemy with empty hate and released a single blast from his Nine Tornados technique into the tower resting on his hand. The steel and concrete shattered into a thousand pieces then twisted in an artificial wind created by the single tornado. The blonde sent a meager shot of chakra into the fledging maelstrom, and the technique tripled in size and strength, dismembering the tower and adding its debris to the spinning air.

When the cloud of airborne metal and asphalt cast a solid shadow over the prodigy, the boy made a single statement in a voice that spoke in both a rasp and a rumble. "There's nothing more to say. Die." With that, he gave a curt nod and the barrage of wreckage flew at Pain.

Pain activated a strong wave of his repelling technique and cast the impromptu shrapnel back the way it came, but the tornado itself needed little time to recuperate before coming for him again. His ability hadn't the time to recharge so he dropped off the platform and plunged into the water below before the maelstrom could connect. This bought him the extra second he needed and he prepared to propel himself towards the blonde beneath the turbulent waves.

His plan would have been adequate if it hadn't been for the sudden gush of water that blew him out of the unending lake. Pain's stolen body flung itself from the sudden waterspout, stuck to the lake's surface via chakra, and eyed the unwelcome tornado… the second one.

He squinted and his Rinnegan noted the rotation of energy running through the twin squalls; there were two continuous waves of chakra- both wind affinity- rotating in convoluted pillars that eventually contracted and connected to the Uzumaki's spine. "_Like a tail…_"

The curious thing was that during all this time, Naruto hadn't budged an inch; he didn't even turn in place. His cold seething eyes locked on Pain as the man leapt about the area and he rotated his head to keep up with him, but anything more was apparently a hassle. Pain knew this kind of behavior was abnormal, and this led him to wonder about the seal glowing in his target's chest. "_I see. Kuran's sister was able to recreate the One Soul seal…_" His ringed eyes trailed to the smoking claws worn by the prodigy and he dissected the marks in an instant. "_...But it is imperfect. It requires stabilization seals as well._" His analysis gave birth to a plan, something he needed now that he was but one body. "_If one of those seals is removed, I may not even have to deal with Naruto Uzumaki. The Fox would likely consume him, and I know how to contain the beast._" If Pain could smirk, he would have produced an evil grin from ear to ear.

Little time was wasted as Pain leapt into action. Like most of his schemes, it was simple; dodge and weave his way to the blonde while using his repelling ability as needed. The scattered debris was enough to provide split second cover and allow him to hide should the 'tails' be too much for him. For a few seconds, the plan worked. Pain closed in on the boy and could see the crimson pulsing through his eyes. Incorporeal winds whipped around him as he created a veritable shield around his body with the repelling technique, and when he neared the prodigy he reeled back with one of his many disfigured pikes to ram it through his target's chest.

But this is where the plan fell apart. As the weapon flew for the Uzumaki, the aforementioned genius reached out a clawed hand and coddled the tip of the spear as if it were no more than a spoon. Naruto's bloodstained eyes never moved from Pain's, and the boy forced the self-proclaimed god to retreat with a blast of wind. As before, Pain was able to avoid instant dismemberment, but he was too close to remain on solid ground.

The Rinnegan-armed corpse flew threw the air on the momentum of the sudden gust and noted yet another tornado forming. "_That makes three…_" Upon landing, he reached down, picked up a handful of screws left over from the collapsed building, and launched them at the boy using his handy technique.

Curse knew the projectiles wouldn't miss, so he made no attempt to move. Rather, his feet remained cemented to the ground while his three maelstroms curled around him and knocked the bolts from the air. As soon as the path was cleared, he sent a smidgen of chakra into his existence squalls to redirect them at Pain, but the moment they did so, another screw squeezed through the opening. The so-called deity had held one back.

But Naruto was undeterred. The sliver of metal flew for his head, but he remained ever still in its swift path. What would be the point of dodging? The instant before it drove its way through his nasal cavity he opened his mouth and caught it with his teeth. The rough steel scraped against the enamel, but the Uzumaki proved his superiority over the manufactured material by chewing on it. Within seconds he reduced the steel screw to boiling paste within the furnace of his mouth, and then he spit it back at Pain.

The Akatsuki leader faced a tough choice; repel the oncoming superheated spittle or the save his technique for the slower yet tortuous winds? But he wasn't renowned for killing the great Hanzo for nothing; there was always an alternative option. He reached for a stray concrete block and tossed it in the nearing projectile's path. Following the many spins of the block with superior eyes, he noted that the steaming paste struck it at an angle. It melted through the concrete like so many layers of paper, but its trajectory was altered enough so that he could move his head out of the way and use his technique on the triple tornados.

Said attack struck Pain on three sides and ground the concrete at his feet to dust, but Naruto couldn't find his nemesis after the cloud had settled. The blonde sniffed the air a few times and turned his head to find his target thrusting yet another bizarre spear at his face. As before, he caught it with casual fingers and delivered a countering maelstrom from his hand. Surely Pain wouldn't pull off the same stunt twice…

And he didn't; the stolen corpse disappeared from view in a puff of smoke. The Uzumaki didn't flinch in the least, but he wondered how this one-trick pony did it. He sniffed the air again, this time taking in a deep drawl. There- that was how he did it.

Two scents.

-------

Atop one of the standing towers, a cloaked figure popped into existence next to another, just out of sight of the devastated battlefield. Pain's possessed corpse glanced at its savior to find a young female with numerous piercings- the reincarnation of his summoning body. He briefly noted the fresh studs protruding from her flesh, knowing that her initiation was rushed. Hopefully that wouldn't be an issue…

The corpse of Yahiko then redirected its cold gaze towards the waterlogged clearing in which the blonde resided. "The Uzumaki has grown strong; he knows pain well." He looked at the female figure, "But he does not know it as well as I. You will serve as backup."

"Yes," the woman's steady voice affirmed the order. She placed her hands together for another summons, but a sudden breeze kicked up and caught her attention. Her ringed eyes aimed upward alongside her male counterpart and she stared at the turbulent sky.

The atmosphere twisted as five separate tornados clutched for the dismal clouds from the choked roots of obelisks. Upon finding the cold air, the maelstroms converged at their tips and increased tenfold as they sucked each other in. The stormy clouds ripped apart under the monstrous force and the twisters spun to impossible speeds. This alone was an incredible sight for the city's panicked inhabitants, but Pain wasn't even phased.

He didn't even blink when flames fueled by the winds' power crept up the tendrils into the chaotic sphere. The blazes ignited everything they touched, and once they came together in the rotating orb of air in the sky they burned with azure fire.

Pain's stolen corpses shared blank gazes, and the newest of them spoke the obvious.

"This… could be problematic…"

The afternoon sun was no longer the only star in the sky.

------

Hinata wove around the airborne razors. Normally she wouldn't have bothered so much getting out of the way of projectiles, but this time Yin and Yang's magnetic field was useless- who could have known paper could be used as weapons?

What was even more aggravating was that her opponent could _fly_- the woman was able to manipulate paper into any form imaginable. The Hyuuga knew all it would take was one water technique to end everything… "_But she's so damn hard to hit!_"

Konan unleashed another salvo of paper shuriken at the prodigy and Silence ducked behind a pipe protruding from the base of a building. Byakugan active, Hinata unlatched Yin and Yang from her back and uncurled the curved blades along its circular edge while waiting for an opening. When such an opportunity presented itself, she dove from cover, took aim with the film on her hands sparkling, and launched the device at the enemy. Pain might have possessed his own sense of gravity, but Silence knew how to manipulate magnetic fields…

The spinning machine dug into the woman's shoulder and the Hyuuga gave a mental cheer. Sadly, it didn't last; Konan burst into a slew of paper. "_Shit! A substitute!_" Her bloodline alerted her to movement in her 'blind' side, so she spun on her heel with her oversized shaft weapon's razor tip ready for action. Paper shreds were strewn about the impromptu arena, either at rest on the ground or twisting in the wind- it was all the Byakugan could do to spot an attack that could emanate from nowhere in an instant.

Another maelstrom of paper pulled together to form Konan, and a wave of the sharpened pulp shot out from under her feet. Hinata sidestepped the attack and was met with a storm of paper lashing out at her from the ground. The girl's armor reflected the strikes with nothing more than scratches, but the film at her joints weren't so durable and her flesh felt hot and slick from multiple cuts. It demanded a disturbing amount of concentration to avoid dismemberment, and the Hyuuga cursed under her breath that she didn't drop her bladed shaft when she had the chance. "_If this keeps up without a break…_"

A sudden flash of light in the sky dimmed the assault as it caught the females' attention. Konan's eyes widened as she gazed upon the burning sphere in the sky and, although her Byakugan was enough, Hinata couldn't help but stare at the fireball directly. Milliseconds felt like minutes, and the Konoha genius's lips curled into a smile. "_Thanks, Naruto…_"

Silence released her high-tech spear and slapped her bleeding hands together. A moment later, the unending waters swirled around her position and soaked the surrounding area. Her cuts stung under the moisture, but at least the paper was too drenched to continue.

Konan didn't manage to avoid being soaked herself, but she did manage to put some distance between herself and the Hyuuga. Annoyed that a number of her weapons were temporarily out of commission, she raised her hand and summoned the dry paper still strewn about the area to surround her enemy. "_I should have ended this quickly,_" she bemoaned her weakness, "_This fight just got that much harder._"

Meanwhile, Hinata noted the air around her spinning with uncountable slips of paper. Her Byakugan could see the chakra circulating within the unending chain of pulp, and she knew another grand water technique would do little to stem them; Konan's technique was more nimble, and her control over the paper was quicker than Silence's over water.

Nevertheless, Hinata smirked at her enemy and slid into her family's traditional stance. Knowledge and an overabundance of technology might not have been on her side this time, but an old fashioned ass kicking would always work…

-----

Naruto's bloodshot eyes glanced back and forth in search of the elusive Pain, though his feet remained steadfast. He knew that if the man wanted him he'd come to him, so there was no reason to take a single step. As the boy's chakra fed into the five tornados and, by proxy, the massive Rasengan created by their skyward union, a tiny voice made itself heard in his mind. He struggled to hear it, and that was a foreign feeling to him.

The logical portion of his brain whispered that he should move, concoct a plan, set an ambush- something, anything! But the moment he acknowledged the idea, he stopped caring about it. His calm rage reigned his mind with unquestionable authority, and even though the enemy was nowhere in sight, the irresistible urge to kill him remained. He could not focus on anything other than Pain- not the man's absence, not his techniques, not even how he could be killed; the only thing that Naruto could fit into his brain was that the man was a target and must be eliminated. Even when he idly wondered if Hinata was safe, it felt as though she was a secondary concern that wasn't of immediate importance.

Curse knew this sudden inability to focus on more than one thing at a time wasn't right- this had to be a side affect of Shia's seal, the fox's soul, or both. The rage in his veins squelched his musings as quickly as they arose, and the cold fires of anger raged anew the instant he recalled his surrogate sibling.

His mood seemed to reflect itself in the Nine Tornados technique; as if by command, fire snaked from his lips and wove into the twisters, burning hotter as the winds fanned them. When they touched the massive orb in the sky, the thing became saturated in hellish fire, casting its heat as far as it could travel. Naruto eyed the flaming semi-Rasengan in the sky, and his steady fury found another outlet.

With a tiny twitch, a sixth tornado sprang to life from the blonde's body and arched upwards for the spinning fireball. The instant before it came into contact, the Uzumaki eased in a sudden glut of chakra into the newest maelstrom then pierced the orb with it.

Because of the extra chakra, the sixth tornado didn't become entangled within the windy sun. Rather, it punched straight through and descended on the city with the perpetual fires of an artificial blast furnace within its column. The searing twister tore through a cavalcade of towers, tearing them to pieces and reducing them to slag in a heartbeat. The offensive tornado did not- could not- extinguish its source of heat due to the impromptu Rasengan feeding the flames, and since Naruto now possessed bottomless power, the flaming maelstrom continued its savage trek through the Rain village.

Naruto knew the chances of it killing Pain were minimal at best, but his enraged mind didn't care. If there was anyone dear to Pain as much as Jiraiya and Shia were to him, Curse vowed they would die before the man's eyes before he burned with them…

Even if he had to melt the city to the ground.

Before the airborne furnace could complete a full circuit of devastation, Pain appeared opposite the attack atop an unscathed tower. The blonde ninja noted the man's existence and redirected the fiery whirlwind at him, but it was slow. The flames weren't as swift as he anticipated due to the sheer amount of power transferred from the faux sun through the tornado. The assault still liquefied any metal in its lumbering path, but not before a presence caught the boy's attention.

Naruto glanced at a sudden cloud of smoke to find a massive chameleon pop into existence, cocking his head by a millimeter in a rare show of intrigue. The summon immediately blended into its surroundings, but not before a newly minted seventh tornado separated from the Uzumaki to hunt it down.

The blonde sniffed the air and directed his newest maelstrom with his eyes. The vertical storm twisted and convulsed along its path, shredding any loose panels alongside the wrecked buildings in search of its target. Naruto heard an inhuman shriek and saw an inkling of blood as his attack located its prey, but he had to avert his bloodshot eyes once more when another threat descended upon him.

Pain had taken the momentary distraction to advance on the boy. He knew that particular summon was unintentional- he meant to call the Cerberus- but he supposed that an invisible target was just as effective. "_I was afraid of that- the summoning body was too rushed…_"

But rather than dwell on a single mistake, Pain's preferred body raised a twisted pike against the blonde, the crooked tip aimed at the boy's neck. As before, Pain was forced to retreat, but this time he utilized his gravitational powers to launch the spike at the boy before moving from harm's way.

Curse responded by lowering his head and catching the weapon with blackened teeth. He twitched his head to the side and the seventh tornado broke away from its hunt, shredding away the chameleon, and whirled around to attack Pain. It only took a moment, but the enemy evaded death by being summoned away again.

Naruto redirected his cold gaze to the highest tower available before repurposing his newest tornado into a maelstrom of fire. He idly noted that Pain had just used a guerrilla tactic with a single ally. This was most likely to buy time until help arrived, but that train of thought derailed almost as soon as it began.

He plucked the bizarre weapon from his teeth and stared at it, its appearance familiar. After a moment, he matched it to the color and texture of the piercings lining Pain's face. While he didn't understand or take the time to contemplate the weapon's use, he figured that removing them from the enemy would probably give him some sort of advantage. With this in mind, his destructive rampage took a new turn.

Curse initiated the eighth and final tornado and rushed it into the airborne Rasengan, lighting it aflame alongside its brethren. Then he pumped a massive glut of chakra into everything connected to him and the storm bulged with power. The Rasengan spun harder and faster and hotter and the burning maelstroms feeding into it flexed and enlarged with increased speed and heat. The teen moved his arms out a little and the massive technique squashed downward.

The faux sun lowered into the cityscape while its airborne furnaces stretched outwards to create rings of fire that extended further and further into the city. Water smoked and evaporated, concrete foundations blackened and cracked, and steel glowed and buckled under the impossible heat. With haphazard manipulation, the blonde flicked the streams of spinning fire into the wreckage around him, toppling mighty towers and smelting debris into glass. The dry air burned and crackled, the mounting heat transforming Naruto's location into an earthbound vision of hell.

For a while, the Uzumaki could not sense Pain at all. Neither the original Rinnegan user or his summoning ally were within sight, and his nose- while only marginally better than an Inuzuka's- could not detect their stench above the smoldering ashes and billowing smoke. He briefly considered that he may have lost Pain, but he never once considered moving from his position.

A figure appeared on the outskirts of the devastation and was followed by another… and then another… and then two more. Naruto glared at the shadows and recognized his enemies, but this time Pain and his summoning cohort were joined by the paper woman Hinata was tasked to kill. He squinted at the final two- a slim man donned in the Akatsuki robes and pierced in a familiar configuration, and trapped in his arms…

"We have your woman," Pain stated sullenly, indicating an unconscious Hinata within the newest body's grasp. "If you do not wish for her to die, then surrender."

Naruto idly noticed his beloved in the newest incarnation's arms- she was battered, bruised, and bleeding everywhere. Her steel armor was cracked and tinged with soot, and her battle gear was withheld at arm's length by a slew of paper that flowed from Konan. The blonde glared daggers at Pain's favored corpse, but no words came to mind.

As though by command, Silence stirred in her captor's grasp and went rigid when she realized the situation. Out of instinct, she converted a shot of chakra into electricity and expelled it into Pain's newest body, but the bolts crackled and died as they became infused within the man's frame. "Naruto!" she shouted when her chakra drained, "Don't worry about me!"

Pain hushed her by placing another of his sharpened rods to her throat. "You have control over this situation," he stated dully, "You can avoid this pain. Just surrender your body and she will live."

The Uzumaki regarded him with a thousand yard stare, not bothering to respond. His altered mind still demanded blood, but this time he felt a sense of urgency- Hinata stood before him, the stress of her life in the balance. He glanced at his palm- charred flesh cooked into glowing steel fingers and boiled blood pooling into intricate seals. In that small instant, he remembered losing Shia- an agony that his modified mindset distantly remembered. That pain was horrible, something he never thought possible.

But now that Hinata was in danger, what then? Shia was a precious girl, but Hinata was so much more, someone that he believed would always be by his side. If she were gone, would all the power and intelligence in the world mean anything? He stared at his mutilated hand as he considered this, oblivious to his artificial sun waning overhead.

Meanwhile, the Hyuuga in question observed the blonde's demeanor. "_Naruto, what happened to you?_" Her Byakugan was disabled by her captor, but she didn't need a bloodline to tell that the blonde had burst a few blood vessels- he was bleeding through his pores, and the blood bubbled and smoked before hardening into black smears. He looked like a demon from hell with his sentient hair, bloodshot eyes, and smoke-gurgling lips. The scant pieces of jewelry armor he wore were practically fused to him: his fingers were swollen into Shia's boiling claws while his arms looked more machine than human within the burning confines of their brass bracelets. "_That has to be painful! Why doesn't he look like it, though?!_"

Seconds seemed like hours as Naruto stared down Pain, the latter taking little heed of the situation. The Uzumaki moved towards the group, finally lifting a leg to take a step… then promptly disappeared from view and cutting off the burning Rasengan from its source.

Six Rinnegan eyes blinked, and Curse stood before Hinata's half-dead captor. The instant after, the ground rumbled and split and cracked. Molten rock spurted from the earthen gouges and a wave of boiling air slammed into everyone present. Konan faltered while much of her paper burned, falling to a knee in the sudden pressure invoked by the Uzumaki's speed. Pain and his incarnations remained standing, though the twinges of their many piercings glowed in swelling heat.

Before anyone could react, Naruto curled an armored hand around the thin man's head and glanced at the Hyuuga with cold, bloody eyes. His dry, crusted lips opened, revealing teeth stained in soot, and he spoke to Hinata with a dry raspy voice that threatened to fail at any time.

"Run."

Silence's pale eyes widened at her beloved's demonic appearance, but her feet obeyed him. The instant after his command, she was no longer restrained by arms that sucked the chakra from her. She dove forward under the blonde's outstretched arm and put distance between herself and Pain's multiple bodies. Out of reflex, she eased into the Byakugan. "_What the hell…?_"

Her former captor was attempting to absorb Naruto's chakra- that much was obvious. The natural energy flowed like a torrent through the blonde's burned arm into the man's head as said enemy reached forward to kill the Uzumaki. His arms moved in slow motion in the Hyuuga's eyes, and the spiked rods in his hands inched their way to her beloved's chest. The other two Rinnegan users twisted to deliver similar attacks. "_Naruto!_"

But none of it came to fruition. There was a sudden flash of light, and everything within a ten-foot radius of the blonde flew back, the sole exception being the newest enemy. Still trapped in Naruto's iron grip, the man's body burst into light and convulsed, every orifice expelling blood that dissolved into the unholy chakra that coursed through Naruto's pulsing veins. Hinata saw it all- the man's internals were spun into oblivion then liquefied, the outermost flesh ripping and writhing. In another second, the blonde earthbound demon held what amounted to a burnt bag of flesh in his hand. When he dropped it, Hinata knew she shouldn't have stopped to witness this horrific event- she turned tail and ran again, this time doing everything in her power to hold back tears of fear.

"_It's not the fox!_" She repeated that mantra to herself. "_It's not the fox! It's just Naruto! Just Naruto!!_"

While the Hyuuga ran, Naruto turned to find the female Rinnegan user breaking away from her would-be attack, most likely setting up to summon Pain away once again. The blonde leaned forward and clasped the woman's cold fist before she could completely disengage, and a squeeze drove the burning steel claws into her flesh.

The pierced woman never whimpered, screamed, or uttered a sound otherwise, but her freakish eyes widened in realization when the Konoha ninja opened his blackened mouth at her. Hellfire poured from the boy's mouth and engulfed her, thrusting her into a searing wind that tore flesh from bone before feeding it to the flames. In the end, all that remained was a burnt stump still firmly clamped in Naruto's hand. The blonde stared at it a moment longer, affirming its owner's demise before loosening it from his claws and letting it fall into the distant lake.

He roamed the landscape with tired eyes; atop his perch, he could clearly see the devastation. The sunken platform where he first began this battle was charred black against the ever-churning water, and eerie lights reflected off the uneven glass hills in the crater that once housed acres of majestic towers. The setting sun cast looming shadows over the water and burned glass, laying the ground into the coming darkness of night.

Naruto flicked his eyes forward; one of those looming shadows took the shape of a man.

Pain stood opposite the blonde on a creaking tower, the situation between the two warriors remaining unchanged since the battle's evolution. Once again, the god of Pain was alone; solitary against the force of nature that was the Curse of Konoha.

Pain cocked his head to the side. "_Is that it?_" he wondered, "_He's only used a handful of techniques. Could it be that he isn't coherent enough to produce more? Or is he simply waiting for an opportune moment?_"

In the distance, Naruto leaned back with bulging cheeks. Another blast of hellfire…

"_He is too incoherent. I can easily evade that attack from here, and he knows it._"

And so Pain did. The blonde genius opened his mouth and fire erupted from within, spiraling and twisting its way to Pain's position. At the last possible moment, the pierced Akatsuki leader moved to leap off the flimsy tower before it was turned to slag, but a fluctuation in the chakra flowing to and from his piercings froze his feet. In that small moment, as the flames approached, Pain knew something was wrong. But not on this battlefield…

Reflex took over and the man's head turned to the side in alarm. The flames licked his clothes before engulfing him entirely, and he could only utter a simple question, but not to anyone within earshot. "Who are you?" A second later, the animated corpse known as Pain was burned from existence.

The man's words never reached Naruto's ears. Rather, the blonde watched as the targeted tower melted and crumbled, idly noting that Pain's aura had vanished entirely. Seconds ticked by, and he heaved a breath he didn't know he held.

"Enemy's gone," he muttered, throat sore and burning. "Now for some rest…"

He crumpled to the hot metal of the tower beneath his feet, the raging power of the seal carved into his chest reigning in the fox's power. The boy's bloody eyes felt like fire and the world rang in his ears like a million thunderbolts. His fingers and arms, cooked in hot metal, began regaining a small sense of feeling. He felt hot, and although he was practically invincible only moments ago, he could feel a mounting pain creeping into his veins. "_This… is gonna… hurt…_"

The last thing he saw before passing out was Hinata crawling over the tower's edge for him, tears in her eyes and her unheard voice calling out to him.

-----

Naruto and Hinata limped away from the wreckage of the Rain village, their bodies cut and bruised and bleeding from the battle. The blackened city's smelted buildings shined in the early moonlight that escaped the gathering rainclouds, and monstrous fires raged throughout the distraught village. No doubt the survivors were desperate to extinguish the flames before it overwhelmed the remnants of their ruined homes, but their anguish was lost on the Konoha ninjas.

Truthfully, Naruto didn't really remember much- his mind recalled being angry beyond comprehension, and the vision of Hinata being held captive by Pain lingered in the darkness, but he couldn't recount anything specific. The last thing he clearly remembered was the effects of Shia's seal fading away to reveal the Hyuuga by his side.

About a mile out of the city, Curse fell to his knees and wretched blood and bile. His wounds bled and burned, his heart pounded into swollen lungs, and his head felt like it was being drilled open. In a moment of coherence, he remembered the last time Aiya forced herself onto Shia's consciousness with a seal; she fell violently ill after less than an hour's use. He wondered how temporarily merging with a demon's soul would affect his health before he lurched forward to puke more blood.

Hinata was worried about her beloved's condition. "Naruto!" she was frantic, "Are you okay?! Hold still, I'll help you!"

Naruto physically protested out of instinct. All his body wanted to do at the moment was expel his organs onto the wet grass, but the constant prompting of soft hands eased him onto his back and forced him to breath. His lungs heaved in violent spurts as the Hyuuga placed soothing palms over his burning body.

The blonde convulsed in pain every few seconds, and if it wasn't for Hinata's distant words of encouragement, it might have been worse. He curled up into a ball several times with such force that he felt bones strain to the breaking point. Such a thing was welcome- at least broken bones would distract him from his liquefying internals.

"Naruto!" Silence shouted at him in an unusually authoritative stance, "Calm down and breath! Focus on something!" She exuded a display of power, but she was a mess on the inside. Was this battle with a madman with delusions of godhood to end with Naruto dying from an overpowered seal used to defeat him?

Curse heard the girl's distant voice and squeezed his fists tighter. He didn't know if Hinata had removed Shia's claw weapons, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. His mind was spastic from the searing pain, but it wasn't limited to the physical realm. In that moment, he felt that he understood Shia's plight a little better, and that only made the agony worse.

Whether an effect from the seal or the fox, Naruto felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and anxiety. Shia and Jiraiya- the closest people to a family he ever had- were gone, and their loss weighed on him. That in and of itself was bad enough, but then there was something else, something… timeless and finite all at once.

He couldn't explain it, not in this state, but this feeling of isolation tore at him and compounded his physical misery tenfold. As though a great unseen force rose up to proclaim 'You are nothing, no matter your strength'. It frightened him to feel this way, and for a moment, he wished his life to end so that he could escape it.

But then he opened his burning eyes to find Hinata hovering over him, tears streaming from her eyes. Her lips quivered in fear and her brow was knit in the greatest worry possible; she was afraid as well. But not for herself or some vague sense of helplessness.

She was afraid for him.

In that moment, Naruto understood. He had lost some of his most beloved people; why should Hinata have to suffer that as well? What did it matter that he was small in the eyes of the universe? He was here in the present, in the Hyuuga's trembling arms. Shouldn't that have been all that mattered?

"N-Naruto," Silence choked, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably, "Don't die on me! Don't you dare…!" Tears flooded her eyes at the prospect of the Uzumaki passing on, and her hands shook as they desperately tried to quench the proverbial flames burning within the blonde. "Please…"

Naruto locked eyes with her and forced his swollen lungs to breathe. After many attempts, his body complied and his pulse lowered under the soothing touch of Hinata's bruised and bloody hands. He willed his arms to move, and only after great strain did they obey. His hand quivered and grasped Hinata's after an arduous journey, and the blonde's throat burned as he spoke.

"H-Hinata," his voice cracked from the pain, "Th-thanks…"

The Hyuuga's worry alleviated somewhat and her tears dried at the boy's touch. She gave a weak smile. "It'll be fine, Naruto. Everything will be fine…"

And so time passed without another word spoken between the two. Slowly yet surely, Hinata drew upon the chakra crystal's power to mend Naruto's broken body, and little by little, Curse's pain resided into a sore ache that was nothing like its greater sibling of torture. Before the moon reached its apex in the cloudy night sky, the blonde sat up with a great degree of effort.

Naruto embraced Hinata. His arms burned, but he didn't want to release her- she was the sole survivor of the battle, the final person who meant the world to him. This only served to remind him of those lost.

"They're gone, Hinata," he whispered, choking on hot tears, "Shia and Jiraiya are gone…"

Hinata pursed her lips and returned the embrace. "It'll be okay," she rubbed his back and spoke in little more than a hush, "Everything will be okay…"

She held the blonde as he broke down in her arms. Now that the battle was over he had time to process everything, and Hinata knew he was dealing with Shia and Jiraiya's deaths. Closing her eyes and rocking back and forth, she let him lean all his sadness onto her. "_He needs me now,_" she knew, and she offered simple words of comfort. "I'll never let go, Naruto. I'll always be here." In a way, she wished this moment would never end, but life would never stop for pain and sorrow.

Especially when terror's greatest ambassador arrived to pay a personal visit.

Naruto and Hinata were forced from their embrace when a monstrous force rippled throughout the decimated Rain village. A shadow erupted from the ruined cityscape and became larger and larger in its descent from the dead twilight sky…

They scrambled to shaky feet and backed away before the indeterminable mass slammed into the ground before them. Hinata grasped Yin and Yang- her only remaining advanced weapon- and Naruto unsealed his trademark ninjato from the tattoo in his right arm. The blonde's legs trembled from his own weight, his arms quivered in exhaustion, his chest heaved with labored breathing, and his eyes blurred in weariness. If this was another incarnation of Pain, they would not survive.

But before they could deliberate further, the dark mass bloomed to reveal that it was constructed of people. Rain ninjas with their slashed headbands and civilians with their soaked clothes... even Konan stood off to one side. But something was wrong with them.

The early moonlight wasn't strong enough to reveal everything, but the slew of newcomers had a dead look in their eyes; lifeless bodies, much like Pain. The obvious ninjas of the group carried themselves in belabored ways; something even civilians wouldn't do in the face of a fight. Hinata activated her bloodline for a moment of clarification, and she froze at the sight.

Her enhanced vision saw the innards of the newcomers. They writhed and squirmed as a single living entity, connected by some strange black threads. Even more disturbing, they all lead to a single point in the center…

Hinata's gaped upon recognition of the man in the center of this entanglement; it was 'Scythe' from Dual's team- one of the outcasts from the Sound army so long ago defeated beneath Konoha's streets. "What are you doing here?!" she shouted, "I saw you die!"

Naruto heard her words and eventually found the object of her bewilderment; sure enough, they had met this man before. But he was so different now…

The newcomer's mouth stretched ear to ear with those morbid stitches. The man's ebony hair and tall gangly body were held together by dark belts and squirming strands that looked like something from the netherworld rather than a man. Upon closer inspection, Naruto recognized the stitches and realized he had seen this technique before- Kakuzu, the semi-immortal who survived by assimilating the hearts of others within himself. The sickly stitches flexed and twisted from under the thick belts into the lifeless bodies of those surrounding the grotesque stranger, as though the Reaper himself walked the mortal plane with an entourage.

But all that paled in comparison to what resided in the disfigured man's face. The scarred and stitched cheeks distracted from any discernible facial features save for the eyes. One such eye matched the rest- a single dark orb that echoed the pits of hell. But the man's left eye was surrounded by sore flesh, recently implanted.

The Rinnegan.

No words were exchanged between the opposing sides. Naruto and Hinata stood in lackluster preparation for an attack while the stranger and his connected bodies barely moved a muscle.

Then the man smiled, his lips stretching inhumanly wide thanks to the stitches to reveal sharpened teeth jammed into bleeding gums. He raised his arms in a welcoming gesture to accompany the sickening grin. "General Curse, General Silence! I thought you appeared familiar! Such a long time since our last meeting!" He noted their confused faces. "Do you not recognize me?"

"I killed you years ago!" Hinata yelled, unwilling to relent. "How are you alive?!"

The man offered a quizzical expression before coming to a realization. "Ah, forgive me. My appearance slipped my mind- I forgot that I now inhabit another's body. Your confusion is understandable."

"Who _are_ you?!" Naruto rasped, praying this man wasn't about to attack them.

He frowned; did they not recognize his mannerisms? Or perhaps… "I see," he stated to no one in particular, "You simply do not know me at this time." He smiled and brought a deformed hand to his stomach in a polite gesture. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Supreme Commander of the Gene Freak Division and First Generation Chakra Syndrome Soldier…"

Naruto and Hinata stood at weary ready, but the man's words bewildered them. "_Supreme Commander? Gene Freak Division? Chakra Syndrome Soldier?_" But the man's name rendered his lengthy title arbitrary…

"…General Thanatos Jashin."

* * *

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN

Who is this 'Jashin' fellow? Is he friend? Is he foe? Is he a friendly foe?? Is he a foe-ly friend??

Stay tuned for the answer...

A little while ago, an anonymous reviewer (damn you no-accounters who ask questions) commented that Pain was kind of a pussy. Or rather, that he wasn't as tough as shown in the manga. Two things about that:

I started working on this chapter _just after _the Pain invasion arc, meaning that I got his various powers before they turned into WW3-era moves. The story was determined before he turned into canon god.

Secondly, as you can see with Thanatos Jashin's appearance, it's time for the final boss (or OC cast- you pick) to make their appearance. If Pain was too godly, it'd be difficult to portray these guys as obviously superior... individuals (note the careful choice of words...).

That said, it's time for the final mysteries to unravel! I know I'm excited... hope it sticks...

Oh yeah, I recently started another story (a short one) in response to pudgypudge's writing challenge. Go check it out on my profile and lemme know what you think- it's the **Land of the Blind** one.

* * *

**Update: Yo! To keep you entertained while I work on the next chapter and other stuff, I (finally) created a forum! It's sole purpose is for the discussion of what the crap the _real_ storyline is, and I'll tell you right now that several people have made pretty damn good guesses. So go check it out and speculate, even if it sounds retarded (cause even the most ridiculous could be right). The more people involved, the more interesting it'll be.**

**Have at it!  
**


	41. Message for you guys

Hey guys. Bad news for all of you.

I'm having a particularly bad day, and it's kinda a wake-up call for me. I'm a senior in college, and I just don't have the work done that I should. It's one of those 'what have I been doing with my life' kind of days, and it's taken this for me to realize I've been wasting my time when I should have been working.

I hate it when authors discontinue their stories or put it on indefinite hiatus, but I now understand why they do it. I just can't do this anymore, and I'm sorry. I realize you've invested a lot of time in reading my stuff (I have done this myself), but I'm investing time I just don't have into doing something that cannot pay the bills.

This isn't to say that I won't finish my stories, but I don't know when that'll be. Maybe one day, years from now, I'll have the time to devote to fan fiction and be able to finish this crap, but today isn't the day. I'm not trying to be a drama hound- I _might_ post a chapter or two whenever I have the time, but I don't know when that'll be.

Like I said, I hate, hate, _hate_ it when authors with plenty of followers give up, but I really don't have a choice now. I am sorry that it's come to this, but I have to give this up for now.

At the very least, you'll be seeing more original content since I have a vested interest in comics, only that will go towards me being a professional rather than a hack wannabe. Take what you can get, eh?

Once again, I am sorry to leave all of you in the dust, but I have to. Thank you for your time, and I hope to see you again one day.

Till then.

-Stigma


End file.
